Marco's Highschool Harem Life
by NoHonor
Summary: Marco Diaz is a normal 16 year old boy who got accepted into a transfer program for a new school; although, he may have bitten off more than he can chew. Turns out that this school is in another dimension. At least he keeps making friends with a group a of cute monster girls who help him adjust to his new life. Monster Girl AU, will eventually have older Mariposa, will have FemTom
1. Getting Schooled

Marco was a mixture of nervousness and excitement. He stood in front of his school, his friends and parents were there to see him off.

"Well Marco Diaz," Principal Skeeves shook his hand enthusiastically with a wide smile on his face. "Due to your excellency in academics and overall positive attitude, it's no wonder why you were the one chosen for our new transfer program to Mewni High. You must be quite proud of yourself for being able to join such an exclusive academy."

"I sure am!"He addressed politely. "But, would you be able to tell me about the place? I couldn't find anything about it on the internet, honestly, I'm kind of concerned that there isn't a school at all."

"Oh Marco, we would never lie to a student of grandeur. I assure you, this is really happening."

"Oh, my baby's leaving!" Angie Diaz's weeping was a mixture of sadness and pride at the thought of her son leaving but was given a once in a lifetime opportunity. She ripped her son away from the short, balding man and held her close to her bosom with tears flying from her eyes.

"Mom, please," he attempted to rip himself from her, feeling embarrassed, but she had a grip like a vise. "It'll just be a few months, and I'll make sure to call regularly to let you know how I'm doing. Not to mention I'll be visiting over the breaks."

"Marco, your mother is just emotional." His father gently pulled the two apart and looked his son in the eyes. "It's your first time living alone, we didn't expect this to happen so soon, she's just anxious that she won't be able to see you very often."

"I know she is dad," he was glad to have some breathing room again, but he nervously looked to his mother who failed at holding back tears and back to his father. "But you know dad, you're taking this rather pleasantly."

Marco was now pulled into his father's chest, which was far less soft and burlier.

"My son, I am at my wit's end." Rafael Diaz now began letting the tears he's been holding back fall like a dam opening the floodgates. "How will I know if you're eating properly, or what if you get hurt, or what if you meet a girl and get your heart broken and we're not there to comfort you?"

"DAD!" Marco pushed as hard as he could to get away from his father, feeling particularly embarrassed about that last possibility being mentioned. "I promise you I'll take care of myself. And I will call you guys, especially if I need emotional support."

"If only your sister were here!" Marco's mom latched on to him again, creating a group hug with Marco at the center. He sighed in defeat as tears rained down upon him from all direction. But his mom did have a point, Marco was disappointed that his younger sister couldn't make it to see him off, but she was out on a club camping trip currently. At least she called him earlier that morning to wish him luck at his new school.

"Okay, that enough!" He was finally capable of squeezing out of their grasp and brushed himself off. "My escort is going to be here at any moment. Speaking of, when is he supposed to be here Principal Skeeves?"

"Right now." Marco let out a small scream and jumped back when someone silently appeared behind him. He was a slightly pudgy man that had neck roles squeezing around his suit's collar and had a long nose.

"How do you do Mr. Diaz? I am Manfred, secretary to the dean of Mewni High. I have come to escort you." He stood straight up with professional etiquette and spoke eloquently. "Now, there is much you will learn about our school today so I suggest you make your goodbyes quick, time is of the essence."

He took the secretary's advice and faced his closest friends, Ferguson and Alfonzo.

"Well, see you guys. I'll make sure to tell you how things are going on my end."

"See you, Marco," Alfonzo, the tall, skinny one of the duo said in a garbled voice. "Tell us all about it!"

"Yeah, and if there are any cute girls make sure to drop us a line." His other friend, who thought himself a smooth lady's man chimed in. All Marco could do was roll his eyes in amusement and ended their interaction with their special handshake which consisted of a complicated combination of slaps, fist bumps, and finger locks.

Next up was his parents. Again.

They visibly fought back to shed any more tears. Marco couldn't handle their pleading eyes and outstretched his arms, inviting them in for another hug. This time he was far less embarrassed and more welcoming to the physical attention.

"Bye, I'll make sure to call you guys after I get settled in." Admittedly, being separated from his family for the next few months was going to be difficult for him to adjust to, and he was anxious about leaving.

"Just take care of yourself, honey." His mom wiped the tears from her eyes with a handkerchief.

"And remember to be confident son, ladies like that." His father added thinking it was solid advice.

"Yeah, okay, bye dad. See you mom." He responded in a rushed voice, reluctant to be getting dating tips from his father. He slung on his backpack and pulled his rolling suitcase and accompanied Manfred. "Okay, I'm ready… Uh, where's the car?" Marco noticed that the only vehicle around was his parents' car.

"Oh don't worry about that Mr. Diaz, it will be a short walk."

"It is?" Marco was confused by the statement as the secretary pulled out a pair of white scissors from behind his back with a large blue jewel in the center. He did the most extraordinary thing Marco had ever seen with them: a large blue swirling vortex appeared out of thin air where Manfred had swiped the scissors. Everyone but Principal Skeeves was surprised by this.

"After you, Mr. Diaz." Manfred stretched a hand that pointed towards the anomaly, guiding Marco to proceed. He was hesitant and highly skeptical at first; and nervous, very, very nervous. He eventually mustered his courage and walked towards it and stopped a step short to look back at everyone, who were too petrified staring at the vortex to notice him. On the chance that someone did notice he gave a weak smile and waved goodbye, then disappeared in front of their eyes with Manfred closely behind him.

As the portal disappeared, four of the onlookers were at a loss for words until Rafael's sense came back to him.

"Well, that's not alarming." He said in a some-what composed manner, being absolutely alarmed.

Marco Diaz was slack-jawed as he didn't understand what had happened. One minute he was in front of his high school at Echo Creek, the next a new, larger school was before him in a location he didn't recognize. It was three stories tall and despite looking modern, it had the designs of a castle. A pole stood out with a flag flapping in the wind, it had a white unicorn with a purple mane and tail and a golden butterfly on its flank. In the background were two cob corns crossed behind the unicorn and an **MH** in the foreground, identifying as Mewni High. Manfred walked past him without missing a beat.

"Come along Mr. Diaz, you'll be meeting the dean first thing." Marco mentally lagged behind until he realized he was physically lagging behind and rushed to catch up to his escort. "Now I'm sure you have many questions but I ask you to refrain from them for now, any questions and inquiries will be answered by the dean."

"Um, okay," Marco said in a shaky voice, he had a million questions running through his mind. He didn't understand where he was, how he got there, or WHY WERE MOST OF THE STUDENTS HE PASSED BY MONSTERS!? Some of the students looked human, but a larger portion were clearly other species. He saw fish people, flying unicorn heads, slimes, lizard people, and a pigeon that rode in a robotic device that's purpose was to have him walk around in human legs. Nothing made sense to him!

Marco had to climb to the top of the school until Manfred stopped him at a door. A sign was on it that read _Dean Eclipsa Butterfly_. Manfred politely knocked on the door and opened it without hearing a response from the other side.

"Marco Diaz of Earth has arrived ma'am." Manfred held the door open for Marco and ushered him inside. There was a woman sitting at a desk in the center, a window behind her allowing natural light into the room.

"Hello Mr. Diaz, please sit down." She spoke in a sweet voice.

The dean was a pale-skinned woman with greenish hair wrapped up in a bun and had spades tattooed on both cheeks. She wore a dark purple button-up shirt with a broch that had a crescent moon over her heart and light purple opera gloves. She gave off a friendly appearance, but her maroon lipstick, black mascara, and purple eye shadow darkened her presence to be almost intimidating.

Despite her stand-offish appearance, the girl who stood quietly beside her was far more distracting. She was a girl, at least Marco believed she was a girl, who was about his age. She wore a headband with small devil horns on it that kept her long blonde hair out of her face with the exception of her bangs. Two enormous transparent butterfly wings were on her back and she had two extra arms on each side of her body. She also had cheek tattoos like the dean, but hers were hearts, not spades.

Although she had very alien features, Marco couldn't help but think she looked kind of cute. He quickly dismissed the thoughts from his mind and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the dean's desk, setting his belongings beside him.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Eclipsa Butterfly, dean of Mewni High." She clasped her hands together to politely address him. "Now, I'm sure you have plenty of questions and are having a difficult time understanding what's going on, so I shall answer the broader questions, and if I leave anything out or you have additional questions, feel free to ask me. Firstly, you are in another dimension and magic does exist."

That first bit of information was a lot to digest. Marco always wondered if there was other life out in the universe, but if there was, he thought he'd get his answer from the stars, not from dimensional travel. And the fact that magic existed, it certainly explained a lot of what he saw and experienced in the last few minutes, but coming from a world of science, he found it difficult to immediately accept.

"Now, you are the first ever person from the Earth dimension to be accepted here. Mewni High is a school that accepts all young individuals from every dimension and educates them to help them grow to help better the universe. Now, we say that we accept people from all over but there are exceptions that we don't invite beings from more primitive worlds like yours, we fell it's a bit too much for them to handle. Now when I say primitive, that's not to say that you're barbaric in nature, but rather that you have little to no knowledge of pre-existing magic. It's not your fault, some dimensions are without magic or are completely oblivious to it. However, your dimension is different, magic is a universal and easily replenishable source of power, the fact that your world has been able to advance so far and quickly without it has piqued the Magical Highschool Commission's interest and agreed that your world may be ready to join the rest of the universe. The reason Echo Creek was chosen is that despite the insignificantly low activity in magic, it was still the one place in the world with the strongest connection, tragically that's not saying much. You were chosen amongst the number of candidates because, well, must it be said? You are an exemplary student Marco Diaz, and it's not just your academic record or peer reviews that we gathered in choosing you, it's also due to the quality of the person you are. We have kept tabs on all the candidates and determined you were the most qualified. We believe you shall achieve great things here. You may very well end up in the history books someday back home when you help to slowly bring your world into a new age. Your classes will consist of the usual math, sciences, physical education, and history, you shouldn't have too much trouble with them. There will also be classes that will be completely foreign to you, but most are not mandatory but optional should you join them. There are club activities on campus that I recommend you look into; it could help you to better understand other people from other dimensions. So, have I missed anything?"

The gears in Marco's head were turning so fast that he may have overheated from his orientation. Information lag finally caught up to his consciousness and he snapped back to reality.

"Um, what are some of these optional classes you mentioned?" He now had a million more questions than when he started with when he entered Dean Butterfly's office.

"Oh, there's a number of them: Defense and Taming of Wild Beasts, Dimensional Navigation, Advanced Magic Casting, Botany. Those are just a few, your class schedule has already been planned out to best accommodate you, though I recommend you look through our itinerary if you wish to join or drop any classes." She pulled out a list of classes from her desk and passed it to Marco. "You'll be able to learn more about them on your computer."

"Wait, you have internet here?" Marco was surprised by that.

"Oh no, we have intercore, it will allow you to access information all throughout the universe. Though, yes, it does function exactly like your internet."

"Okay, I told my family I'd call them, will I be able to do that? They're probably freaking out more than I am right now."

"Oh yes, we have communal mirrors on the first floor. Though I'm sure Star here could help you get your own compact mirror." She gestured to the bug-like girl that Marco legitimately forgot was there. She had a wide small on her face.

"Okay, if I wanted to go back to Earth, how'd I do that?" Eclipsa looked a bit hurt and slightly disappointed but did her best to cover it.

"Oh Marco, I'm so sorry. If you want to go home we can do that immediately. I've been so pushy with you that I never considered if you didn't feel like you belonged here, I suppose it is a lot to take in."

"No!" Marco quickly tried to rephrase his meaning. "It's okay, I mean, you're right, it is a lot to take in. But I'd like to stay. What I mean is, I was just wondering if I'd be able to visit them over the school breaks or on weekends?"

"Oh, silly me." Eclipsa laughed at her misinterpretation and sighed in relief. "Any students who wish to return to their own dimension over the school breaks will be delivered by a staff member to their designated location and shall be picked up one day before the beak period is over. If you wish to leave on weekends, I'm afraid you will have to speak to Hekapoo of the Magic Highschool Commission who oversees all interdimensional school travel. She will either give you a rental pair of scissors or you can earn your own personal pair, but I warn you, it's not as easy as asking for permission. Every student must administer to a test for personal use or ownership of dimensional scissors, they can be a very helpful tool or a terrible weapon if misused. There is a lot of responsibility when it comes to having scissors."

Well, _don't run with scissors_ now had a new meaning to Marco. Though he would definitely have to meet with this Hekapoo person at some point. "All right, I think that's all the questions I have for you. Other than, where am I staying?"

Manfred, who was always behind Marco, presented him a key with a chain and a tag that had the number 244 on it. "You'll be given your own room at the dormitory; Star can show you where they are. She is here to show you around campus so you can get more familiar with the facilities, any questions about our campus can be directed to her who is eager to help."

"Hello." The young girl finally spoke and waved to Marco. "Come on, this'll be great, you'll really like it here!"

Marco gathered his luggage and followed close behind her.

"Marco," Dean Butterfly stopped him. Marco looked back and saw a gentle and warm smile from her. "Welcome to Mewni High. I'm sure you'll do great here."

When the door closed Eclipsa and Manfred were the only two left. "Do you really think this was a wise decision, ma'am? He's the first ever Earthling, your plans may not go over so well."

"The Magic Highschool Commission was skeptical too Manfred, but I believe Marco Diaz is the key we've been searching for."


	2. Float Like a Butterfly

Upon leaving the office, Marco was greeted by his chaperone who was an inch from his face, grinning ear-to-ear.

"So, you're really from Earth?" She asked in a high-pitched tone.

"Um, yes, I am." Marco's face was growing hot and red. With her so close to him he was reminded how cute this girl was.

"Wow, what's it like there?" She pulled back and was hopping up and down in anticipation.

"I guess it's normal? I don't know…" He scratched the back of his head, incapable of answering the question due to him trying to describe the entire Earth and that he has never had to compare it to anywhere else before.

"Hey, we haven't had a proper introduction." Marco cleared his throat and outstretched his hand to Star and smiled. "Marco Diaz, sixteen years old, recently transferred from Earth."

"Oh my gosh, you're right, how silly of me." She giggled at herself for forgetting the most basic etiquette when meeting someone else. She took his hand in one of her own and shook it. "Star Butterfly, also sixteen from Mewni. Welcome to Mewni High."

"Wait, Butterfly?" Marco reacted to that one word in particular. "Like, same Butterfly as the dean? Are you her daughter?"

"Oh no, Eclipsa's my aunt. Well, I call her my aunt Eclipsa, but in reality, she's actually a very distant relative. Come on, I think I should do my job and show you around campus. And as my aunt said, ask me anything that's on your mind." Star waved for him to follow as she began walking.

Marco followed close beside her. "Well, I do have a few actually, but I wasn't sure how to ask them to the dean. Like firstly, I thought I was the first human here?"

"Yeah, you are. Why'd you think otherwise?"

"Because," he directed his attention to two girls they passed, both looking clearly human. "Are they not?"

"No, they're Mewmans. It's actually a bit surprising how closely you look like to us." Another interesting fact was noted from her that Marco didn't understand.

"Uh, no offence Star, but we don't exactly look all too similar."

"That's because I'm a High Mewman." She said it matter-of-factly without elaborating. Then she slapped herself on the forehead as she realized he wouldn't have understood that. "That's right, you don't know anything. Okay so, there are two kinds of Mewmans, regular Mewman and High Mewman. I belong to the latter. At birth, the only difference that can be seen between the two is the cheek thingies we have, other than that, the two are actually exactly similar. Also, being a High Mewman is hereditary, I'm a High mewman because my mom is, and so is aunt Eclipsa, it has to do with having a lineage that leads all the way back to the first settlers and the first queen of Mewni thousands of years ago. So I kind of have royal blood in me. But Mewni did away with the royal rule of the time of my great-great-great-something grandma Skywyne, who renounced the crown and built this school instead. Things didn't go too well at the beginning for either the school or the kingdom, but it all eventually worked out. Anyway, the cheek marks are like a magnet for magic, our bodies begin absorbing magic from birth and that allows us to cast magic, unfortunately, that's not possible until around the age of fourteen. But eventually the body absorbs too much magic, so to accommodate the enormous power without making the host blow up, magic will transform the user's body into a form that can hold on to all that power. We call it mewberty, and voila!"

"Wow," Marco was astonished at her story, it sounded so amazing. But he quickly found a plot hole. "Hang on, if your aunt is also High Mewman then why doesn't she look like a giant butterfly too? Has her body always been able to store vast amounts of magic, is she super powerful? Does she not have magic?"

"None of those. At some point when a High Mewman eventually masters magic their butterfly form advances to a more powerful form, allowing your spells to be even stronger. But by being able to control magic more easily you no longer need that form and are able to change from your butterfly form to your original at will. Like my mon's able to do. But aunt Eclipsa's a bit different, she loves to gather knowledge of all kinds, her motto is 'All Knowledge is Good Knowledge', something she frequently tells all the student to the point that it became the unofficial school motto. So when she was younger she started learning _'dark magic',_ and that eventually lead her to discover immortality and she accidentally made herself immortal. Now she's ageless but at the cost of being unable to use magic. She still siphons off magic but it kind of just vanishes; she can use magic, but she needs a wand as a medium now. Also, this all happened when she was our age, she may be ageless but she found a spell to make herself look more mature."

"Wow, so she can't die?" Marco noted a lot of what Star said about her aunt, but chose to keep on track with the immortality thing.

"She can die, I've never seen her get hurt but apparently she can't be harmed as easily, it takes a lot to even bruise her. But above all, it basically just keeps her from ageing. And because of that, she's been the dean of Mewni High for the last three hundred years now."

"Wait, she's over three hundred years old? Wow, you weren't kidding about her being a distant relative." Star looked back and gave him a smirk.

"Why Marco Diaz, are you asking a woman about her age?" Star giggled as Marco was fumbling to find words to help dig him out of this hole. He eventually gave up out of embarrassment.

"Um, by the way, Star, we've been walking for a while but you haven't told me anything about the school yet." Star came to a halt as she noticed they were on the bottom floor now. Star covered her face with four of her hands and silently screamed into them while the other two pulled at her hair.

"I got too excited from talking about my family that I didn't realize I still had a tour to give." She removed her hands and composed herself again. "Okay, may as well start at the bottom, that's always a good place to start, then we'll work our way upstairs and then walk around the surrounding area. Okay so first, we have maps around campus so if you ever get confused as to where to go you can use these as reference."

Star directed Marco to a map of the first floor on the wall next to the stairs. The school was designed in a rectangle with north, south, east, and west wings labelled and an outside open area in the center.

"The receptionist is over at the front doors," Star lead the tour properly this time, describing all the places that they'd pass by. "Oh, and you said you wanted to be able to call your family! The communal mirrors are around the corner of reception."

Seven mirrors lined up on a wall in a private room, Marco was a little confused about how a mirror and making a phone call connected, then he thought she was making a joke.

"Okay, I get it." He approached a mirror and humoured Star. "Mirror, mirror, on the walk, who's the fairest of them all?" He didn't expect anything to happen.

"Calling: Ferret Themal." A woman's voice announced as the name appeared on the mirror. Then a ferret wearing a yellow polo shit appeared in Marco's reflection.

"Hello?" It responded.

"SORRY! Uh, wrong number." Marco panicked as he tried to figure out how to hang up. "Star, how do I turn this thing off?"

Star pressed a button on the bottom of the mirror. "Yeah, so, maybe I'll show you how to use the mirrors later."

They continued on with the tour. "By the way, what classes do you have. best you know which classrooms you need to go to."

"Here." Marco handed her a sheet of paper he had received before leaving Earth outlining his class schedule. Star squealed in excitement as she looked over it.

"Marco, I'm in most of these classes!"

"Really? That's a relief, glad I'll have someone who I know in my classes." Marco was optimistic at the prospect of hanging out with Star, she seemed like a good person.

"Well that won't work." She handed him back his schedule. "It's not right if I'm your only friend, while we explore why don't I introduce you to some of my friends if I spot them?"

"That would be great actually." Marco was feeling more relaxed and comfortable the longer he was here. Learning about the school being in another dimension was shocking, but if he had friends, he felt he would be more welcomed.

His attention was caught by students that they passed, but not by their physical appearance. Marco was amazed by the number of different monster-like people who were around and kept seeing new and interesting types, but it was the attire they wore that brought another question to his mind.

"Hey Star?" He cut her explanation of the various classrooms they passed. "I was told that this school had uniforms, but barely anything that the other student wear even match with one another. So, does it have a school uniform or not?"

"Technically it does." She pointed at two students. One was what must have been a Mewni boy because he looked human, he was talking to a two-foot-tall rat that stood on its back legs. Marco guessed that the rat was probably a female student because it had a pink bowtie in its ear and wore a skirt.

The boy wore a dark blue jacket with an emblem in the shape of a shield that had the design of the flag he saw earlier outside over his heart; a small difference is that the letters **MH** weren't on the emblem but above it in yellow embroidery. A white button-up shirt was underneath and he wore a tie with red and black stripes. Finishing the attire were slacks with the matching blue colour of his jacket. The girl rat had a similar uniform but wore a skirt instead of pants, and the jacket she wore was a bit shorter in length.

"Those are base designs of the school uniform, but students are allowed to make alterations as they please. Like how I did." Star's uniform was a short-sleeved dress with frills and a collar but was still kept to the same school uniform colour and emblem but added a pink octopus at her chest. It helped compliment the pink and purple striped stockings she wore with her boots.

"Wow, really? That's allowed?" Nothing like that happened in Marco's world, you were given a uniform and that's how it was to stay.

"Oh sure. In fact, it's encouraged to alter your uniform. They say it helps with individuality. If you want your uniform changed then you'll have to go to reception and they'll make a meeting for you to meet someone who will make a design for your specifications. Of course there are some restrictions, but they'll do their best to keep it to how you want it." Marco liked that idea. He was given notice that he would receive his uniform waiting for him in his dorm so he wore his signature red hoodie and brown jeans. He definitely had to take advantage of this opportunity.

"Marco! I see some you have to meet!" Star's eyes lit up as she spied a woman holding textbooks and exiting a classroom, she grabbed Marco's arm and pulled him behind her. "Mom, hey mom!"

Star approached a blue-haired woman who wore a blue dress shirt and a matching skirt. Marco noticed that she had diamonds on her cheeks, showing that she was High Mewman. She also looked normal, not a bug like how Star did. Guess Star was right, she will be able to transform to her original form eventually.

"Hello Star, who might this be?" The lady asked kindly.

"Mom, this is Marco Diaz, he's the transfer student from Earth. Marco, this is my mom, Moon Butterfly, she's a teacher here." Star was beaming with her introductions.

"So you're the fabled Marco Diaz, nice to meet you." She extended a hand that Marco generously shook. "I'll be your homeroom teacher. I'm also the Home Economics teacher."

"Mom's amazing at her job, and she makes the best pies." Star practically started drooling at the praises she gave her mother who giggled.

"Thank you, dear, but actually it was my own mother who was the master chef. Everything I learned was from her, and tragically I pale in comparison to her own meals."

"Well I'm sure you're just as amazing Mrs. Butterfly. Star's been a great help so far and I look forward to attending here."

"Thank you Marco, I'm glad you're getting along with my daughter. Now, I'll see you two here first thing tomorrow." She gave a curt nod and took off.

"You're mom's pretty nice. You two seem to get along, honestly, I'd be embarrassed if my mom worked at the same school I attended." Marco complimented.

"Thanks, but you're not entirely right." Star corrected him. "I do love her, but sometimes she piles so many expectations on me and we end up fighting. But deep down, I know she wants the best for me. But it's not just my mom, my dad also works here."

"Wait, really? How many of your family members are at this school?"

"Well there's also my cousin Meteora, she's aunt Elcipsa's daughter, but that would be about it. Come on, why don't I also introduce you to my dad, he's the P.E. coach so you're bound to meet him too." The continued with the tour until Star made her way to the central yard of the school.

Outside was a massive field with an obstacle course and a running track. Students were exercising by doing all different kinds of physical activities like jumping jacks, push-ups, and jogging.

"Now where is he?" Star pondered as she scanned the field. Both of their attention was brought to rather loud and cheerful grunting sounds. The noise was coming from a short, bald man with a thick blonde beard who was doing pull-ups with the students. Other than his short stature and seemingly unlimited stamina, he was normal too, not even cheek marks.

He was decimating his students by being able to do pull-ups faster than they could hope to achieve. Though he constantly encouraged the children to keep going, thinking that they were enjoying this as much as he was. Their pained and exhausted faces said otherwise.

"Hi Dad, how's it going?"

"Star!" He noticed his daughter cheerfully and dismounted the bar by doing a backflip, landing perfectly on his feet. "Okay everyone, take five." He blew his whistle that hung around his neck, outlined by a tracksuit that was the same blue colour as the students' uniform and Moon Butterfly's outfit. The students dropped like sacks of potatoes and moaned in exhaustion.

"So, what brings you around here?"

"I'm showing Marco here around the school, he's the transfer student." She directed his attention to Marco who kindly waved.

"River Butterfly-Johansen, Physical Educations teacher," he introduced himself by grabbing Marco's hand firmly and vigorously shook it. "How do you do lad?"

"I'm doing fine sir," he replied in quiet pain as his hand was released. "Star's been showing me around."

"That's my girl!" He eyed Marco up and down. "Tell me, Marco, you look rather fit, you work out much?"

"Well, I do take martial arts," Marco said proudly, he had achieved much in the years he's taken karate. However, Marco was more the academic type, karate was kind of the most physical he ever got. It was his sister, Mariposa, who was the athletic one in the family. She loved running, camping, swimming, all kinds of sports and outdoor activates; she was the one that got Marco into martial arts. He was actually bullied in elementary and his sister was always defending him, he eventually got tired of needing his sister to protect him and signed up in the same dojo she went to, but for some reason she quit a few months after he joined. But he kept to it and learned to defend himself and grew more confident.

"I haven't a clue as to what that is!" The coach said gleefully oblivious. He wrapped an arm around Marco and pulled him closer to whisper to him. "Tell me boy, what do you think of hunting?"

Marco wasn't sure how to reply and grew increasingly nervous around River by the second.

"Dad, don't try to rope him into your Hunting club if he doesn't want to join." Star chastised her father with an unamused face.

"But why not?" He complained and let Marco go. "It's a wonderful pass time and a fantastic bonding experience! You learn how to survive in the wild, track prey, learn what's dangerous and what's not; and just about everything is dangerous! It's jolly fun!"

"Dad!" Star raised her voice and clenched hands into fists, a warning for him not to press further.

"Okay, fine." He pouted. He quickly composed himself. "Now, it was lovely meeting you Marco, and I always have time for my daughter, but I do have a job to do." He blew his whistle and told his students to start running laps, an activity he joyously led in but was replied with more groans.

"Your dad is… intense." Marco commented as Star quickly ushered him away.

"You have no idea."

**So yeah, I know I kept describing everyone's clothing colour as light or dark blue, but I was trying to keep it close by basing it off the show's clothing colour for how all the knights and royalty wore blue in Mewni. Guess blue's the official colour for Mewni.**

**Anyway, hi, quick word from me. Originally this was supposed to be a one-shot were Marco was getting married into a polygamist marriage with all the girls where people were telling stories from the bachelor and bachelorette parties; with the exception of Meteora, Elcipsa, and Tom not marrying Marco. And some of you have gotten a RosarioVampire vibe from it, cause yeah, that show kind of just popped into my mind while I was thinking of how the original story would go and became the main inspiration for this new story.**

**Also, think I'll be adding these author notes at the end of each chapter for funsies. Unless you guys think you'll get annoyed by it, in which case start typing: **_**'Please keep doing these author notes at the end of your chapters'**_** and if you want me to keep doing this, please type: **_**'Stop writing these author notes at the end of your chapters.'**_

**Yeah, that's the most straightforward way to do it.**


	3. How to NOT Pick Up Chicks 101

Their tour continued on, Marco made mental notes of the rooms and subjects Star told him about, especially those that he would be attending.

"And here are the lockers," they passed through a hallway with lockers lining the walls on either side, one locker staked on top of another. "If you want one yourself you can register at reception, they're free."

Star's smile grew into a large grin when she spotted something. "Marco, there's my friend Tammy, let's introduce you two!"

The person in question was a girl putting her books in a top locker. She had purple skin and long, messy salmon coloured hair with a horn on either side of her head. Her jacket was red with a black star on the back and all the edges looked like they were ripped. She had a black skirt that was also ripped up and had a chain hanging from her left hip and a leather wrist band with metal studs on her right arm.

"Hey, Tim-Tam," Star said playfully as they approached her from behind. "How's it going?"

The response was met with Tammy slamming her locker closed. "Kelpbottom broke up with me."

"Oooh, that's bad news, this may have been a bad time." Star showed an uneasy nervousness to her. "What happened?"

The moody girl turned to face them, her button shirt was just as ripped as her jacket and the top three buttons were undone with a tie hanging loosely around her neck. She had three eyes with the third being on her forehead, and each had eyeliner with vertical designs down the center. She had pointed ears with two black, small round earrings on her right ear. She had an angry expression that made it even more uneasy with her red eyes and sharp teeth.

"He said he couldn't handle the drama anymore. Drama, seriously? I get it, I blow up. My anger gets the better of me sometimes, but the drama wasn't what he really meant. He really meant he couldn't take it anymore, how I keep turning into a raging demon over some of the smallest things and he has to take the brunt of it all. But I tried, I really did, I even took anger management classes for him. But noooo, it wasn't good enough for him. **I **wasn't good enough. He… he…" She vented her frustration with a blood-curdling cry as her eyes glowed red and fire burst forth from her into a great pillar. Marco was both terrified of her and for his own safety as students were scrambling to get away.

The demoness eventually calmed down into a huff; as she heavily breathed the red glow in her eyes disappeared and she looked at Marco who was visibly scarred, but still being polite enough to try and not show it.

"Who's this?" She asked in a silent rage.

"Tam, this is Marco, he's a transfer student from Earth. I'm showing him around and introducing him to people. Marco, this is Tammy Lucitor, my best friend, we call her Tam for short." Star introduced the two calmly, if not nervously. In all the years she's known Tam, she's gotten to learn how best to proceed when the demon girl is in one of her bad moods.

"Hi." Marco squeaked out while lifting up a hand for greeting.

"Hey," Tammy took a deep breath and visibly calmed down. "Sorry Star, but as you can see, now's not the best time to be meeting new people. And I have a class to attend."

She stormed away with the most unpleasant face Marco has ever witnessed as Star said goodbye.

"Sorry about that. Tammy can have a nasty temper at times, comes with the territory of being a demon. But she's a really great person when you get to know her."

"I'll take your word for it," Marco said as he noticed the scorched footprints left behind.

"Now how did I know you'd be at the center of all this commotion, Miss Butterfly?" A melancholic voice of judgement was heard behind the two. Star sighed in irritation and dropped her shoulders. She turned around with all six arms crossed and an unapproving face.

"Hello, Professor Toffee." She moaned.

The man in question was a large reptilian person. He wore a suit black suit with all the buttons up and slacks to match, a white shirt underneath and a red tie tucked into his jacket and had black hair that he slicked back. His arms were behind his back as he looked down at Star with a very neutral expression. Everything screamed that he looked like a lawyer to Marco.

"Now, what happened?"

"For your information, I had nothing to do with this." The lizard looked to the scorched ceiling, but he didn't look like he was buying that. "I was introducing Marco here to Tam Lucitor, who was not in her best mood at the time."

"Ah, so that would explain it." He eyed Marco, his expression as still as a statue and voice as indifferent as a robot, Marco couldn't get a read on this guy. Toffee extended a hand to Marco. "Nice to meet you, Marco Diaz, I'll be your history teacher, you can call me Professor Toffee."

"Nice to meet you." He shook his teacher's hand, feeling very unwelcomed, or creeped out, Marco wasn't sure which. As they shook Marco noticed one of Toffee's fingers was missing. His teacher either didn't acknowledge the boy's wandering curiosity or didn't notice it himself.

"I suggest you stay away from this one, she'll be nothing but trouble for you." Those were his parting words.

"What's up with him?" Marco looked to Star who had a grimace.

"I don't know!" She threw her hands in the air. "He was my teacher back in middle school, and ever since the first day he's always treated me like that. He's usually a very stoic teacher who doesn't show favouritism and would rather focus on a student's education than social interactions, but for some reason, he's especially cold towards me. When I finally graduated you have no idea how relieved I was to be free of him, but then he started working here!"

"And you have no clue as to why?" In all the time Marco has gotten to know Star in the last hour she's seemed nice enough, but a tad eccentric, he figured she may have done something to him without realizing what to act this way towards her.

"No, I don't! But I do have an idea." She pulled Marco closer to him and cupped a hand around her mouth to privately whisper. "I think he and my mom dated once."

"What?" Marco had a difficult time picturing him and Star's mom being a couple. In fact, it made his skin crawl when he did try.

"Yeah, I mean, they're around the same age, I think. Everyone I've asked doesn't actually know how old Professor Toffee is. But whenever I mention him to my mom, she only has bad things to say about him and her mood instantly turns sour. Seriously, just mention his name and you'll ruin her day."

"If your mom hates him so much then why does she work in the same place as him?"

Star shrugged. "Guess she values her job more than she hates him."

After that emotional rollercoaster, they continued until they finished all throughout the school. Next up was the surrounding area. Since the school was a campus where it was mandatory for students to stay, it had a number of buildings for various purposes that made it seem like a small town. There was a corner store, grocery store, library, clothing stores, three coffee shops, both a movie theatre and a theatre for plays, and an arcade. Those were just to name a few places. One place they stopped at was an outdoor pool.

"So this place is reserved for class activities during the day and closed during the evening without a reservation, but is free for public use on the weekends." The pool looked to be about 25 meters long and 12 meters wide. He admired the students already in, swimming up and down the lanes until he was splashed by water that got his red hoodie soaked.

"Oh come on." He said in frustration as he looked at the wet spot that slowly spread downwards.

"Hey, sorry about that man." A girl climbed out of the pool. She had blonde hair that reached down to her shoulders with an aqua streak running down the left side and freckles that were underneath her mint-green eyes. Her skin shined as the water reflect the light off of her; no, not just the water, scales. She had scales on her body, most of it looked flesh-coloured, in fact, if you didn't look closely you couldn't tell the difference save for a few rainbow spots that sparkled from her body. She had four small spines growing from her ears with webbing in between, larger spines grew from each forearm and her calves that gave her fins.

But Marco noticed less of her abnormal appearance since he was slowly getting accustomed to seeing a different kind of species every second, but he was noticing how curvy her body was. Star had a slim figure that didn't catch much attention, but this other girl was filled out in all the right places! She wore a two-piece aqua coloured sports swimsuit and a sea shell that hung around her neck, dangling right in front to the two mounds on her chest. Marco tried really hard not to make it obvious where he was looking, but those damn hormones of his got the better of him.

"Didn't see you there. I'm really sorry." She handed Marco a towel with an innocent smile, she may not have realized where he was staring. Marco fumbled to grab it, causing the girl to giggle; his face felt really hot.

"Hey Jackie," Star greeted cheerfully. "How you doing?"

"I'm good. How about you Star?"

"I am showing Marco around campus." She put two of her hands on both of Marco's shoulders, how was just holding the towel, not trying to dry himself off in the least.

"Oh cool, so you're that transfer student everyone's talking about?"

"I, uh, wha- I mean, yes! Yes, I am." Marco finally joined the conversation, stammering through his sentence. "Does word travel fast here?"

"Just when you're the first person from your dimension. Gotta say, not bad." She moved her hair behind one of her ears. Marco nervously laughed, enjoying the compliment a little too much. "It's nice to meet you Marco, I'm Jackie Lynn Thomas, a friend of Star's."

"Nice to meet you too Jackie Lynn Thomas." Saying her full name made Jackie laugh so more, Marco was embarrassed when he realized he had said that out loud.

"Okay, I have a couple more laps to do, maybe see you guys later?"

"Definitely, see you Jackie." Star waved as the amphibious girl dove into the pool and began swimming at an abnormally fast speed.

"Wow," Marco commented.

"Yeah, she's pretty great at that." Star was completely oblivious to what Marco truly meant by that. "Hey, do Earth peoples' faces usually get that red?"

"What? Uh, YES! It'll go back to my usual colour in a bit. Let's just go." Star was fascinated that Marco's skin could change to such a deep red as he rushed away from the pool.

"Hey, so I'm feeling kind of hungry. Think we can grab some food?" Marco asked as he placed a hand on his stomach, now mostly dried off.

"Yeah, I'm feeling hungry myself. Let's grab something to eat here, my treat." They came to a café with an outdoor patio that people sat at. Marco wanted to pay as a small form of thanks to Star for showing him around but he didn't know what form of currency they used here, or what the conversion rate was. He packed $650 in cash for emergency but didn't know if any of that was usable now.

"Hey Marco, we're in luck, I see another one of my friends." Star pointed to a giant green hairball that sat at one of the tables. He could see a pair of eyes that poked through all the hair and two legs that swung back and forth, and that was it; everything else was just hair; or fur, he didn't know which. They walked up to the table she sat at.

"Hey Kelly, what'cha doing?" Star asked the creature.

"Oh, hey Star, just waiting as Meteora get's us our meals." A surprisingly cute voice came from the hairball. "Oh cool, is that the transfer student from that one dimension you told me you got assigned to chaperone the other day?"

"He sure is, this is Marco."

"Hi." He responded with a curt wave.

"Marco, this is Kelly, why don't you two talk while I get us some food and find Meteora?" Star sat Marco down at the table and went inside.

"So, how you liking the school so far? Any different from your world?" Kelly asked.

"So far so good," he responded cheerfully. "Lot of aspects are similar to my world, but there is a lot that's new as well that I'll have to get accustomed to. Before today I didn't know magic or dimensional travel were real, and now here I am in a school with kids from all over the universe. I'm pretty lucky, I guess." 

"Yeah, I guess you are. I mean, how often does someone from a secluded dimension get to travel to another world?" From then on the two just lightly chatted, quickly finding out that they got along surprisingly well with one another. Pretty soon Star came back with two sandwiches and another girl who had a third sandwich and a salad.

The girl had a pointed nose and long pointy ears with an earring that looked like a tooth from a large predator in each ear. Purple hair was kept at an inch's width along the sides and back but the top was full and curly with two tiny black horns. She had magenta slitted eyes and blue clovers on her cheeks. Her arms had thick red stripes and her skin colour went from normal pale that changed to a purple shade halfway from her forearms. A long purple tail could be seen growing from her with a puff of hair at the tip. Her school uniform was a brown leather jacket that was cropped at her chest and she had her button-up tied to the side that exposed some midriff with skin-tight pants.

Marco's impression was that she was one of those girls his mother would warn him about to stay away from because they'd be nothing but trouble. No matter how much fun you'd have with them.

"Meteora, this is Marco, who I was telling you about. Marco, this is my cousin, Meteora."

"Hi," Marco greeted the new girl happily, having enjoyed his conversation with Kelly.

"Hey." Meteora's response was kind of cold, like she was blowing him off as she passed the sandwich she held to Kelly. He took it a bit personally but wasn't put off by it.

As she passed the food, two hands appeared from behind the ball of fluff that was Kelly and her hair parted, revealing a round dark-skinned face with rosy cheeks and thick black-rimmed glasses. She had a button nose that looked a bit animalistic and two furry pointed ears poked through her hair at the top and what looked like claws at the end of her fingers. Her Jacket was actually a wool sweater with purple and white stripes.

She was really cute. Star had a cuteness that came from the positive charm she gave off that made her endearing; Kelly just had an all-around cuteness that made your heart skip a beat because it couldn't handle the cuteness overload. Marco thought she was cute, he couldn't help but be reminisce of Jackie and how she outclassed the other girls with her small waist and shapely hips, and the thought of how wet her skin was as drops of water slowly rolled down and gathered in between those two amazingly formed-

"Right Marco?"

"Huh, what?" Marco snapped back to reality as he heard Star's voice interrupting his rather private thoughts.

"I was just mentioning how you've been so fascinated by all the new things you've seen." She repeated.

"Oh, uh yeah! It's been really cool so far." He was now back into the group chat, trying his best to dismiss his previous thoughts. "I gotta tell you girls, never once in a million years would I have thought something like this would have happened to me. Attending a school in another dimension with students from all over the universe would have sounded way too far fetched for me to believe if that's what you told me this morning. But here I am, enjoying a delicious sandwich at a café with company like you'd never get back on Earth."

"Yeah well, maybe you wouldn't find it such a fantasy-like story if you didn't come from a back-water dimension," Meteora commented in a distant tone without looking up from her salad.

"Meteora," Star gasped, not looking pleased with her cousin. "That was incredibly rude!"

"Come on, he's from a magicless dimension, I doubt he's ever travelled outside his home town. That's why he's close-minded."

"I'm right here," Marco pointed out, feeling offended as if she weren't talking in his presence. "And I'm not close-minded, I'm just seeing new and interesting things and people for the first time in my life. I mean, you're not wrong, I haven't explored outside of Echo Creek, but I'm just saying, you wouldn't meet two Mewmans going through mewberty and a Woolett like Kelly back where I'm from."

Meteora dropped her fork and stood up abruptly and walked away, not before giving Marco the evil eye as she passed. Star called to her to try and bring her back but gave up when she realized that it was useless.

"Did I say something wrong?" Marco asked confused.

"Yeah," Kelly said awkwardly. "Meteora's hasn't hit mewberty yet, she's kind of sensitive about the subject."

"What? Why?"

"Well, as I said, mewberty hits when a Mewman's magic threshold reaches a point that their body can't contain," Star reiterated from her explanation earlier that morning. "That point happens right at your sixteenth birthday, but it's been seven months now and she still hasn't reached mewberty yet. Couple that with her younger cousin hitting mewberty like I was scheduled to and it can really gnaw at her."

"Oh, I see." Marco now felt guilty. As a previously bullied child, Marco knew all too well about being teased because of certain aspects of your character. "I should probably apologize to her next time I see her."

"Naw, she'll be fine." A stranger's voice came from behind him. He looked back to see a giant green bloodshot eyeball with bat wings staring at him. He screamed in surprise and horror and fell from his chair.

"Easy dude, it's just my familiar. No need to get so worked up." The eye flew backwards and hovered next to a purple-skinned girl leaning on the metal fence the trio sat behind. She had brown eyes and dark blue hair with an olive coloured beanie and piercings on her right eyebrow and left nostril. She wore a turquoise cloak that went as far as her elbows and a green shirt, accompanied by a yellow skirt that had been stitched up in a number of places. On her right hand, she had a ring designed like a snake on her middle finger and a black ring in her ring finger; her left hand sported a large ring that encased her entire index finger with a pointed end and a chain that connected to a metal band around her wrist. She pulled back her cloak on the right, revealing that her shirt had a wide neckline that let the right sleeve hang past her shoulder. The flying eye melted into her skin and appeared like a tattoo. Marco didn't get a good look but he could see other tattoos on her body and climbed back on his chair.

"Hey Janna Banana," Star waved cheerfully. "What's up with you girl?"

"Oh, you know, same old-same old. Snuck out of detention. Now I'm here." The girl in question shrugged and spoke nonchalantly. "So what's up with Mr. Jumpy?"

"This is Marco, he transferred from Earth."

"Cool, I'm Janna." She gave a small wave. "Earth huh? You know my ancestor originated from Earth."

"Really?" Marco had calmed down and was now curious to meet another Earthling, despite the fact that he was supposed to be the first one to attend at the school.

"Oh sure, but they had to flee out of fear of being burned alive. Or drowned. Or any other way to kill a person. Apparently, witches were being executed left and right back then. They still do that over there?"

"No!" Marco cried quickly He felt a bit nervous, she was no doubt talking about the witch trials that happened over three hundred years ago and may hold a grudge against all human for it. "No, we don't do that anymore. That stopped a long time ago."

"Huh, kind of a shame. It'd be cool to use a vengeful spirit to put a curse on someone. Speaking of," Janna reached over and plucked a strand of hair from Marco who gave a pained expression and rubbed the spot where the strand came from. "I gotta go before Skullnick notices that I'm gone. Hex ya later!" She flaunted the hair and laughed as she ran away.

"Wait, is she going to curse me?" Marco said in a panicked tone.

"What? No… Janna wouldn't do that." Star reassured him, but there was a long pause before she unconfidently added a 'probably' at the end.

**Hey folks, me again. So I took a vote on whether I should keep doing these Author Notes, and the answer was unanimous… kind of confusing. But don't worry, just like any great democracy your votes are useless and don't matter so now here I am, doing another one of these.**

**Anyway figured this was a good stopping point. I actually didn't get to everyone that I wanted to introduce to Marco, like Higgs who I'm having trouble deciding whether she's going to be a main harem character like the rest or more like a secondary who's not always around him. I'm also having trouble trying to decide if Eclipsa's going to be a part of the harem or not, maybe just make it suggestible. Hekapoo will definitely be apart of it, but she won't be around for another few chapters. I also didn't get around to introducing Buff Frog and Glossyrick so I guess I'll do that in the next chapter. **

**Kind of had thought between making Janna a zombie or witch, went with witch because that seemed like the obvious route. I originallt thought of making Kelly like a Wookie with hair that could shrink or grow at her will, but I decided on beast-kin cause for obligatory furry, plus you can't tell me animal ears aren't cute. Thought of keeping Tom a guy so Marco had that one male friend, but I thought I could have more fun with FemTom. Maybe I'll add someone else so he can have male bonding like Oscar, Tad, or Dennis. I dunno, you guys through some suggestion and I'll mull it over. Won't be Ruberiot though, but he will be around.**

**See you next chapter.**


	4. Social Interaction is Difficult Sometime

It had been a long day for Marco, travelling to another school located in a different dimension didn't happen every day for him. He didn't feel exhausted but more like a mental overload and just needed to relax a little. After meeting all of Star's friends and exploring the campus, their last stop was the dormitories.

"So this is the boys' dorm," it was a large motel-like structure with the same looking doors with a three-digit number lining three floors. "Girls aren't allowed to enter a boy's room and same for the guys at the girls' dorm. But honestly, people don't actually follow that rule. Besides, if you don't get caught, it's like it never happened."

The two shared a moment of laughter at Star wicked idea. "So, my friends and I are going to be hitting the theatre later to see a play. Would you like to join us?"

"Maybe another time Star," Marco responded. "Honestly, the day's been a real handful for me. I think I'd like to get set up in my dorm and maybe explore on my own for a better feel."

"Oh, well, okay. If that's what you want." Star looked a little disappointed. "Well, how about meeting up for breakfast at the cafeteria tomorrow?"

"That sounds great. What time?"

"Great!" Star's mood brightened considerably. "Breakfast is served between the times of 7:00-8:30. You can show up any time, we all usually gather at our own pace." She ran off as the two said their goodbyes, waving to each other. Marco could feel he was blushing a little as he watched the girl with the blonde hair disappear from sight. So far, it was a good day and highly enjoyable.

He found his room easily enough, located on the second floor, apartment 244. Inside was a small space, a bed was to the left-back corner with a nightstand and a lamp beside it, a desk that came with a computer across from his bed, drawers for his clothes beside his desk, and a closet directly to his right when entering the apartment with a sliding mirror door. He estimated the room to be about ten feet wide and fourteen long, not a whole lot for wiggle room but still spacious enough to still add some of his own aesthetics later.

It was nice that he got his own apartment, he thought he'd be getting a roommate, but apparently, all students get their own room. His school uniform lay on the chair by his desk, it was the default design. He didn't mind the blue or the design too much, but he figured he'd change it since he did have the power to do that.

After an hour or so of slowly making himself at home, he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling and recapping his day. Meeting a couple of new people, making some friends, exploring the campus and learning the rules. It was certainly an eventful day. He pulled out his phone to check the time, 8:15. He was surprised by how late it was, and then a thought dawned on him: his family.

They probably had no idea where he was, his parents were probably freaking out, he needed to call them. He left his apartment and rushed to the school, not sure if the doors would be locked by this time. As he made his way down one street after another, doing his best to remember the correct route. His efforts paid off as he reached his destination, and it seemed luck was on his side, the front doors were unlocked.

There were more doors past the unattended reception desk that blocked further passage into the school, all the lights past those were turned off. He figured that those ones were probably locked, but that was fine, he didn't need to go that far into the school. The place that had the mirrors was before that and still accessible. The corridor was well lit, it made him feel safe. He stopped at the first mirror and caught his breath, only after did he remember that he didn't know how to use one of these. Star had mentioned she'd teach him later but that slipped both their minds. He thought back to when he used it before, he humorously said a quote from a fairy tale when addressing the mirror, then a name popped up and someone's face appeared.

The name was lost to him, but the pronunciation sounded like the last phrase in the quote, so maybe it was voice-activated? He didn't have much to lose, and if he couldn't figure it out tonight, he could ask Star in the morning.

"Um, call Angie Diaz of Earth?" He commanded with uncertainty. He figured it was best to name the dimension too. He didn't know if there were any other Angie Diaz's in the world, but given that he was now calling through the entire universe, it was a safe bet.

Marco's mom's name appeared on the mirror in green letters and a female's voice repeated it back to him. There were a few rings until a different voice came from the mirror.

"Hello?" No image appeared like last time, but a green line that moved with the sound did appear showing that audio was going through? The voice was unmistakably his mother's.

"Hey mom, it's your son." There was a loud shriek that made the waves on the mirror move up and down violently.

"Rafael!" She called out on the other end. "It's Marco, he's on the phone. Oh my god, baby are you okay? Where are you? What's going on?"

"Mom, mom, it's okay. I'm fine." He tried reassuring his mother who he could tell had tears of panic from the sound of her voice.

"Marco?" The Hispanic accent now being heard was his father. "Son, is everything okay?"

"Hey dad, yeah everything's fine. You guys have nothing to panic over."

"Nothing to panic over!?" His mother sounded hysterical. "Marco, you disappeared right in front of us. Your principal tried explaining that you were in another dimension now attending a magic academy? Marco, what's going on."

"Easy mom," he tried calming his folks down. "Principal Skeeves is correct, I'm currently in another dimension attending a school that enrolls beings from all over the universe, and apparently magic is real, which is most likely how we're able to talk to one another despite being in two different realms." Marco continued to talk with them, explaining the situation. They listened intently until he was finished.

"Wow, that certainly is something." His dad was astonished by the tale. "So you are training to become a magician now?"

"I don't think that's how it works dad, maybe you need a predisposition to be able to cast magic? I don't know. But it's going to be much like schools back home, just, you know, a few extracurricular classes added."

"Well, we're glad you're okay dear." His mother said relieved. "So, tell us about your day."

Marco recapped them on everything, about the people he met, the dean and his teachers, the campus itself, and about Star. His parents listened without interrupting or asking questions once.

"Well, that does sound exciting." His father said with a higher octave in his voice. "Now tell us a bit more about this Star girl."

"Star?" He asked confused about his father's interest. "What's there to talk about? She's fun, well connected, friendly, knows how to use magic-"

"Is she cute?" His mother interrupted.

"MOM!" He felt a bit embarrassed about her question, now figuring out what they were getting at. But yes, she was cute.

"Excuse me," a voice with a Russian accent came from Marco's left. In the entrance stood a large amphibious man holding a ring of keys in his left hand. He had a round, yet strong body, yellow eyes and webbed ears and wore a green tunic. "I am afraid I must lock up the school now. Public use of mirrors is prohibited until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow."

"Oh, sure thing. Sorry mom and dad, looks like I have to go. I promise to call you guys later in the week to tell you about my classes."

"Okay sweetie. We love you." His mom said while hearing the sound of her blowing a kiss.

"Take care, Marco." His dad's voice was the last he heard before he pushed the button at the bottom to end transmission.

"Sorry about that." He said to the stranger.

"It is no problem." The frogman said with a great smile, Marco could see sharp teeth behind his fat lips. "Talking to family, it is good for children to communicate with their parents."

He led Marco out the school and locked the doors behind him. "I am sorry, but did I overhear you mentioning Star Butterfly's name?"

"Yeah, you know Star?"

The frogman laughed a great below that seemed to come from his gut. "Yes, she used to babysit my children when they were but tadpoles." He reached into his pocket and opened his wallet, a roll of photos unfolded from it revealing twelve children, two of which were conjoined. All the kids looked like miniature versions of him.

"Wow," Marco said impressed looking at the photos. It must have been difficult looking after a dozen children.

"Yes, but this is my favourite picture." He grabbed another photo from his wallet and handed it to Marco. It had a bunch of small black balls with eyes and green frog legs, they must have been his children when they were tadpoles. In the center of the photo, being surrounded by the babies was Star who scooped them all in her arms. Though she looked different, a bit younger, but more importantly, she was missing her wings and four of her arms, she looked like just an ordinary girl.

"Wow, they all look really happy there."

"Yes, my children adore Star Butterfly, she was a great help when my babies could not look after themselves." He took the photo back and looked proudly at it, thinking of fond memories before placing it back in his wallet and pocketing it. "I realize I have not introduced myself, I am Yvgeny Bulgolyubov, the school's groundskeeper. But please, call me Buff Frog."

"Marco Diaz, transfer student from Earth." Marco shook his webbed hand. Buff Frog had a strong grip.

"Nice to meet you Marco, welcome to Mewni." Buff Frog said with a great smile. "How did you come to meet Star?"

"She showed me around campus as my guide. She's been really helpful."

"Yes, Star Butterfly is a wonderful girl. But enough of that, if there is anything else you need to do tonight, I suggest you get it done quickly, curfew will be in effect shortly." He warned Marco, who had no idea that there was a curfew.

"Thanks for the heads-up Buff Frog, I'll probably head straight to the dorms though." He parted ways with the kind groundskeeper and took a brisk walk in the evening night. The roads were considerably less populated than they were in the day, almost like Marco was the only person in existence. And that was fine, going for a walk by himself was very relaxing.

The next morning.

Marco inspected himself in his new uniform, he looked good, but the colour wasn't his style, definitely had to get it changed. He had washed up earlier in the shower room behind the dormitory, sharing a shower room with a bunch of other guys was somewhat of a new experience for Marco, not including that the students came from all over the universe, but it was something he'd have to get used. Quickly.

He was excited to start his new life. New school, new friends, new classes. Maybe even a new him, he was working with a clean slate after all. As he walked through the hallway, remembering his way to the cafeteria, he looked at his course outline. He had inspected his classes ahead of time and did a bit of research on them on the intercore, it di work exactly like the internet. Some of his classes sounded very similar, easy enough to transition into, but other classes he had no idea what to expect from them, he'd either need to switch classes fast or play catch-up quickly.

With his eyes down he didn't notice the person he bumped into, or maybe it was that she ran into him? He looked up from the impact, not enough to knocking him over but definitely staggering him. It was a short red-haired girl with freckles and hand wraps all along her forearms, what's more, she had face paint on her. Mostly lines that swirled and curved in a symmetrical fashion. There was one line that went from her forehead to the tip of her nose, serpentine figures that started from the top inside of her eyes, just under her eyebrows, they curved around the outside of her eyes and inward, then curved once more towards her cheekbones; and a final horizontal line that crossed over the bridge of her nose and through all the other marks.

She had an angry expression on her, "Watch it!" she demanded from Marco and pushed past him aggressively. Marco watched as she rushed down the hall from where he came from, seeing her two red wings swing side to side. Marco didn't appreciate her attitude, but it's not like it was something to get hung up about. He decided it was best to ignore it and put his outline away so as not to run into anyone else.

Other than the earlier encounter, he made his way to the cafeteria smoothly. He got a plate and loaded up on food. A lot of the spread was actually rather normal stuff: bacon, eggs, pancakes, sugar cereal. And a lot of corn-based food, like, a lot of corn.

He looked behind him after feeling a tap on his shoulder.

"Hi," it was Star. She was greeting him with a great smile on her face. "Glad to see you made it here on your own."

"Hey Star," he greeted back just the same. "Yeah, no problems at all. I have a pretty good memory."

"Come on, everyone's already here." She led him with his hands full to a table where all of Star's friends he had met the other day were sitting at. Some had already finished eating and everyone was talking amongst each other. Two spots were open for Star and Marco.

"Hey, Marco." Kelly was the first to notice him, her hair tied back revealing her face. Everyone's attention turned towards him and also greeted the boy.

"Hey girls." He responded sitting down. Star sat to his right with Jackie on his left and Janna beside her. Kelly sat opposite to Star, Meteora across from him, and finally Tammy. Jackie was in her uniform now; her coat was black with some sea-related pins on it like a starfish and a wave. A plain white shirt was underneath with her seashell necklace decorating the front and a light blue skirt.

"So how'd you sleep last night? Anything strange happen?" At first, Marco thought the purple-skinned girl was being polite, then her second question hit and he was reminded of how unnerved his interaction with her the other day was.

"No, slept just fine." He said taking a bite of his pancakes, a bit wary of her. She responded with a chill response, either just trying to psych him out or feigning innocence to anything she may have done. His eyes locked onto Meteora who secluded herself to also eating.

"Hey, Meteora, sorry about the other day. I didn't mean to offend you." He said to her sheepishly feeling pretty guilty.

"It's okay, I should have given you a pass. You didn't know." Marco thought that that was a good sign, but her response was somewhat hollow so taking it sincerely wasn't entirely possible.

"So what classes you got?" Asked Kelly.

"Schedule says I have History, Home Economics, Dimensional Navigation, Science, Math, Studies in Magical Theoretics, Phys. Ed., Combat Training, Basics on Enchantments and Curses, and Demonics. And I have a free block open to choose an elective."

"Wait," one of the classes Marco listed caught Tam's attention and she swallowed her food. "Demonics? Really? That's actually kind of an advanced second language. You think you can handle it?"

Marco shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea. Though if it proves to be too difficult to understand for me then maybe I'll see about switching to something easier."

"Or I could help you." Tam offered.

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Sure, I speak fluent Demonic after all." Tam's personality was much more bearable than how she was acting the other day. It relieved Marco greatly that she wasn't the kind who was angry all the time, and that someone was willing to help tutor him.

"Hang on, let me see your schedule," Star interjected. She snatched it from him as he handed it over. "Why would you be in Studies in Magical Theoretics? It's not really a requirement, but usually you'd need to be able to cast or have an understanding of magic to enroll in that class, and Marco, you have none of that."

"Really? Maybe it was a mistake? Or perhaps Dean Eclipsa thought it would be good for me to learn this stuff since everything's so new."

"Sounds like something my mom would do." Meteora chipped in. "But it's never easy to tell with her. Sometimes she'll do things knowing they'll never have a positive outcome."

"So what elective do you think you'll be taking?" Jackie was now directing the subject.

"Well I did skim through the courses at this school the other night, but I was going to do a more thorough investigation later today. You girls have any suggestions?"

"You could join me in Aqua Marine Research," Jackie suggested.

"There's Drama, they always put on amazing plays," Kelly mentioned.

"Potions is a pretty neat class," Janna pulled out a small vial containing a purple liquid. "Last week I made this, one sniff and it'll knock someone out for two hours."

"Well those are all great suggestions," Marco said, a little worried about what Janna is capable of. "I'll check them out later, or maybe see something that interests me."

Marco enjoyed his breakfast wit the girls until it was time for his first class. He stood at the front as everyone else were at their seats, they mostly gossiped amongst each other.

"Now class," Star's mom raised her voice and grabbed everyone's attention, quieting them down. "Today a new student will be joining. This is Marco Diaz from the Earth Dimension, he's the first of his kind to attend Mewni High, so try and make him feel welcomed. Marco, would you like to introduce yourself?"

"Hello, I'm Marco. I've lived in Echo Creek all my life and it's been really interesting coming to a new dimension. Just the other day I learned that there was other life in the universe and that magic is real, so I guess there's a bunch of things that will seem strange to me that is an everyday occurrence to all of you."

"Thank you, Marco, there's an open seat there for you." Marco sat in the front row, beside Star as Professor Butterfly took attendance. Tam, Jackie, and Janna were also in his Homeroom class.

The rest of his day was bouncing around classes after every ninety minutes or so. Today he had History, Phys Ed, Basics on Enchantment and Curses, and Dimensional Navigation which he had yet to attend.

History class focused mostly on Mewni's history focusing on a great war between Mewmans and monsters, lead by the stoic lizardman from the other day, Toffee. He seemed to focus mostly on the monster aspect.

"Yeah, Professor Toffee's a Monster Right's Activist." Star enlightened in between classes when Marco brought it up.

"You mean monsters don't have the same rights as Mewmans? What about other non-mewman beings from other dimensions?" Marco asked, surprised to know that racism traversed even through space.

"Oh no, monsters have the same rights as Mewmans do now, but over twenty years ago they were something like second-class citizens. There's still some animosity between mewman and monster, but that's pretty much only in the older generations when it was vibrant. For people born in today's culture like myself, I see no difference between the two and I don't understand why it took so long for monsters to be considered equal. I guess Professor Toffee just went through some hard times that he won't let go of."

Physical Education, lead by Star's dad, Coach Butterfly, was an absolute nightmare. He made students run, jump, and do all sorts of exercises, joining in and doing better than everyone else all the while being supportive and encouraging his students to keep going. Apparently, he did that all day in every class.

Basics on Enchantments and Curses was led by a dog. Yeah, she was a talking dog, Professor Willoughby. Marco originally thought that the brown dog with black spots was someone's pet, but to his surprise, she was the actual teacher. The only person he knew in this class was Janna and he was apprehensive to sit with her, but he caved at her constant insistence.

Now it was the last class of the day, Marco was talking to Star and Tammy as the teacher was running late, telling them about his current thoughts of how the school was. They laughed with him when he told them about his last teacher and they admitted when they saw her they also thought she was someone else's dog.

"Okay, okay, I'm here. Everyone settle down." In came a woman with pure white skin and long red hair that had almost as much volume as Kelly's. Her ears were pointed and she had bangs that completely covered her right eye and two massive horn poked through her hair with a black tiara and a flame that hovered above it. She wore a yellow sundress with an orange sash over her abdomen.

She was Professor Hekapoo, the woman who Marco would have to eventually talk to if he wanted to be able to get a pair of scissors. The class was actually more about learning of other dimensions and what they contain, dangers, and how to safely travel when in an unfamiliar dimension along with being able to safely travel in between dimensions. Star said she'd help him catch up on when he was showing signs that he was struggling after the bell rang to dismiss the students from their last class of the day.

"Diaz, hold up, I need to have a chat with you." His teacher said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. Marco felt a bit nervous as the others exited, leaving only him and his teacher who was leaning back in her chair and had her legs on her desk. She had an unimpressed look on her face.

"Not only am I a staff member who teaches a class of valuable and life saving information, but I'm also a member of the Magic Highschool Commission, and I'll tell you right now: I have no idea why Dean Eclipsa allowed someone from your dimension to join this school, if it were up to me, I would have closed all the portals connecting to your realm."

"Oh, uh… okay?" Marco was not feeling like he was particularly welcomed by her direct attitude.

"But the Dean always has a reason for doing things, even when she doesn't reveal them to others. So I'll be keeping an eye on you, maybe then I can understand what lead to her crazy decision. So in a roundabout way of what I'm trying to say: I don't much care or know why you're here, but you are, so take care of yourself. Now get out!"

"Yes Professor." He replied quickly, taking her command to heart.

"One other thing," she stopped him as he was one foot out the door. "I hate when people call me that. Just Hekapoo is fine. I don't care for those fancy titles."

**Okay, guess that's another chapter done. Now Hekapoo's in the mix, so woo-hoo. Honestly, my favourite Marco ship is Markapoo, but for the sake of being the author, I gotta stay neutral so it's hard to say what endgame with her will be.**

**There were a few places I thought of ending the chapter, but then it would have been kind of short. Anyway, hard to say when girls make it apparent when they start falling for Marco, I'm trying to do it more naturally, take it slow but dammit character development can be tricky. **

**Anywho, guess that's all for this note. Can't wait to tell you guys about his other teachers. And for an FYI in case people start asking about class scheduling, it's 11 total and four a day with his 12****th**** class just becoming the first class he had first thing 2 days prior. It's a slow rotation. I don't know about other highschools but mine did that, except it was 7 classes.**

**Anyway, bye!**


	5. A Ballad of Butt Kicking

Marco was amazed at how fast his new uniform was delivered. Who's able to design and tailor a new uniform from to exact detail in less than twelve hours?

He changed the colour of his jacket to red and added a hood and front pockets just like his hoody; a zipper replaced his buttons that went as far as his chest, still including the lapels, and he decided to include black cuffs. His slacks were now a heavily grey colour and thought he'd add a red zig-zag design down the sides, try something a little new but still relatively close to home.

"So what's this Combat class all about? And why does this school have it?" He asked Kelly and Star, Kelly was helping Marco stretch while Star was doing her own thing. The class was held in a small arena-like building.

He had two classes prior, Math and Studies in Magical Theoretics. His Math class was easily understandable, math in this world was the exact same in his world; though the teacher was a large green woman with red hair and tusks. Marco wasn't actually sure she was a woman to begin with. His Magic Theoretics class was far from the same experience, however. His teacher was a small blue man with a beard who floated around, giving very indirect examples and methods of the subject and looked for questions with no clear answer. He didn't think that that was a class he'd be sticking with.

"Well, some dimensions aren't as safe as other dimensions. Hey, you're pretty flexible." Kelly said off handily as she pulled him towards her, both sitting with their legs spread as far apart. "But basically, it's for people who travel or live in dimensions where fighting is necessary or common. Like my world."

"Is your world dangerous?"

"Naw, not if you're tough. It just has a combat-based economy. You literally have to fight for everything."

"Or for people who want to learn how to kick butt by the coolest teacher in the school," Star added. As if on cue the doors that lead outside the arena flung open and a massive white bear with horns burst through, on its back was a dark Amazonian woman brandishing a large axe. She had dark blue dreadlocks and wore a green tunic that stretched out due to her muscular figure and a belt that had a beast's skull as a buckle, the sleeves and ends to her tunic were torn to help eccentricate her well-toned muscles.

"Okay class," she dismounted her steed and addressed the now attentive students. "Today we'll be doing group exercises. Grab what you feel most comfortable with and partner with two others." She gestured to a bunch of weapons' racks that held an assortment of tools in many different forms.

"Is that our teacher?" Marco asked uncertainly. He had seen some crazy things here, but this one, oddly enough, was exceptionally strange.

"Yeah, that's Brunzetta." Star ogled at the tall woman; the shape of her eyes matched her cheeks.

Marco followed suit with the rest of the class and gathered around the racks. He saw swords, lances, axes, shields, nunchucks, knives, hammers, clubs, and other weapons Marco had never seen before.

Marco had zero experience using weapons so he grabbed a simple one-handed sword, that was probably good for a beginner.

"So, what am I supposed to do with this?" Marco screamed girlishly as a massive sword came crashing down next to him, a smug Kelly leaned on it.

"You swing it. Come on, Star and I will help you, you look like you need it." She lifted the sword high above her head and let it dangle behind her back with one hand. Marco began to wonder just how strong Kelly was. "Don't worry, we'll go easy on you."

They did not go easy on him. He kept getting knocked over, disarmed, and blasted.

"Okay," Kelly snickered as she helped him to his feet after another defeat from Star. "Next time, how about you keep your sword up. Here, let me show you."

Kelly instructed Marco basic stances and forms, showing him how to properly grip his blade, giving him tips like how it was best to try parrying with a blade like his rather than trying to block.

"For a beginner to fight someone experienced," Kelly lightly had Marco pinned, his sword stopped hers from slicing him in two. "It's better to try and be tricky, do something your opponent won't expect. Play to your strengths, not theirs." Marco's butt landed flat on the ground as his feet came out from under him as Kelly tripped him.

"Thought too long on what you should have done next," Star commented, content with just watching the show.

As Marco dusted himself off, screams of panic caught his attention. It came from two students; one was a giant lobster and the other was a large man with a leather mask and spike balls for hands. They were piled on top of one another, and a girl stood on top looking smugly triumphant with a sword resting on her shoulder. With the giant red wings and face markings, she was recognizably the girl Marco ran into the other day.

"Hey, who's she?" He asked, pointing to the girl in question.

"That's Higgs, it's best if you keep away from her, she's crazy strong," Kelly warned.

"You ask me she just seems conceited." Marco had experience with punks who thought themselves better than everyone, specifically from a little twerp that Marco was most thankful to never see due to being a dimension apart now.

"Oh, really? Well, I don't think you have the right to such open opinions." Marco yelped when he saw Higgs had snuck behind him so quickly. Seriously, how did she move so fast and silently in such little time? Marco had only turned his head away for two seconds.

"Look, all I'm saying is that just because your better doesn't mean you should act high and mighty. It's because you are better that you should try helping others improve their own skills." He tried sounding sincere, pointing out that she could be more tactful with how she presented herself. Her face was in a scowl, she clearly didn't appreciate Marco's input.

"Is that so? Because from where I'm standing it just sounds like you think you can take me." She said it loud enough for the entire class to hear. Soon, everyone stopped what they were doing and all eyes were on them. People gathered around Marco and Higgs.

"What, no!" Marco tried backpedalling as hard as he can, trying to get out of whatever mess he got into.

"Yeah, you're right. I saw how you've been doing in class." She scoffed to mock him. "Honestly, it's laughable, I thought you were goofing around until I noticed you were actually trying. I mean, if that's what you want to call it."

"Hey, I'm new to this, cut me some slack." He defended, starting to get annoyed at her demeaning attitude.

"Maybe I should, after all, it's not like you're actually going to succeed here or anything. You're from a magicless world, you can't compete with us. I bet you couldn't even last a minute against me, let alone thirty seconds."

"I could too!" Chatter began filling the arena and then booming laughter muted everyone.

"Excellent!" The laughter came from their teacher and her bear handed her an alarm clock. "It's decided then."

"Wait, what's decided?" Marco was confused as to what happened. Not realizing he fell for the bait; hook, line, and sinker.

"Marco, you just accepted her challenge," Star informed him.

"Back out while you have the chance man. She's the best student in Combat." Kelly warned him.

"Yeah, she's so good, she's even beaten experienced fighters," Star added. Marco grew more nervous as the situation dawned on him.

"Wait, wait, wait, I wasn't accepting anything!" He panicked, trying desperately to stop what was about to happen. "I was just saying that-"

"Oh, what's wrong? Too afraid? Don't want to get your butt whooped too? Or do just not want to embarrass yourself in front of your girlfriends?" Higgs chided him on.

"They're not my girlfriends!" Marco instinctively cried out. He couldn't help but feel embarrassed by the accusation, but despite all best intentions and what his conscious told him, he raised his sword. "You know what? Screw it. You're on!" The class roared in excitement.

"Okay, one minute on the clock." Brunzetta turned the alarm's minute hand back one. "Since Higgs believes Marco can't last for a minute, so long as he's not pinned, beaten, or surrenders, all he has to do is survive."

"Works for me!" Higgs agreed to the conditions with her own sword at the ready.

"Wait, what does she mean by 'survive'?" Marco never got an answer as their teacher started the match and Higgs rushed in, her sword above her head.

Marco instinctively held his own up to stop it as the blade came crashing down, Higgs gained an elevated position with her initial charge by being boosted by her wings. His arms stung as the metals clanged against one another, the vibrations shook his arms, maybe Kelly and Star did go easy on him.

Upon the second strike, Marco duck-and-rolled, but the girl was quickly on him again. She kept pushing him back with a smug look on her face, she knew he had no chance of winning and he had nowhere to run with the students creating a wall to stop any escape.

"Come on, Marco!" Star's voice could be heard over the cries from the other students. "You just have to last a little longer!"

"Remember what we taught you!" Kelly advised.

What they taught him? They barely taught him anything other than how to get your butt kicked in twelve different ways, all that they taught him was a few basic sword techniques. That, and that if he fought an experienced fighter, like now, he should try being sneaky and work to his strengths, but what were his strengths?

It was taking his all to just being able to defend against Higgs's constant onslaught. How much time had passed, ten seconds? Thirty? Was it just about a minute yet? His strengths were being an attentive student and achieving his black belt in karate.

And that's when it dawned on him combined with something Coach River said the first time they met, he had never heard of martial arts before, or at least had no knowledge of karate. If that was the case then maybe Higgs didn't either, would she be expecting that?

Marco decided to give it a try, he knew that he couldn't last a minute if he kept blocking so he had nothing to lose, this was his hail mary. In a vain attempt in between attacks, he finally struck back in a sloppy fashion. It was too easy to block for Higgs and planned on using that to parry and disarm him then pin him to the ground under her boot. But as their blades collided, she was surprised to feel no power in the strike, in fact, Marco's sword dropped to the ground.

At the last moment, Marco let go of his weapon and crouched in a low stance, keeping his center of gravity as low as he could without falling over, and in a flash, he struck at Higgs's exposed side. Higgs recoiled back a little as his fist connected and Marco felt both a sense of achievement and shame, he just hit a girl.

He didn't let up; it was his turn to attack. He threw a high roundhouse kick with his left leg, missing his target. He let the momentum carry and threw a reverse turning kick with his other leg, Higgs actually had to lean back as his foot barely grazed her. She gripped her sword with both hands swung downward, Marco grabbed her right arm with his right hand and slipped past her strike, pulling himself to the outside of her body and put pressure on her shoulder with his forearm, driving her down.

This type of disarming technique would have worked on a normal opponent, but not for this girl. Higgs flapped her wings wildly smacking Marco in the face, throwing him off balance and loosening his grip. With all her might Higgs threw him off of her and Marco fell to the ground, weight quickly squashed him. Higgs had mounted him, her sword pointed at him; she thrust down now no longer looking confident, but pissed that he actually got the better of her for a short time.

Marco was too petrified to scream as the sword came at him, his arms covered his face in an instinctive manner and he clenched his eyes shut. But nothing happened, the sound of bells violently ringing filled the room. He removed his arms slowly and peered to see what happened, the dulled sword stopped inches from him.

"Next time there won't be a bell to save you." She hissed at him as she got off and shoved past the other students.

Marco looked dazed as he picked himself up, he couldn't believe what had happened, he was literally saved by the bell.

"AAAAHHH, MARCO!" Star squealed in joy as she jumped on him, wrapping him in a huge hug. "You did it!"

"That was totally awesome!" Kelly followed suit, nearly knocking him over. Marco still hadn't gathered all his bearings, but he began to feel a bit embarrassed with the two girls wrapped around him, but didn't disagree to the feeling.

Soon he realized that everyone else had gathered around him, giving him praise and congratulations.

"Uh, thanks, but I didn't beat her." He pointed out. A massive force hit him in the back, nearly knocking the wind out of him.

"True," said Brunzetta who looked particularly impressed. "But you did last the entire minute. No rookie could have lasted nearly as long against Higgs, not to mention you actually had the upper hand at one point. And throwing away your weapon and fighting barehanded, I've never seen such a crazy tactic before, or such well trained hand-to-hand combat techniques. We may even be learning from you on how you accomplished that."

"Thanks." Marco blushed more from the praise of his teacher and compliments of the other students. Maybe this Combat class wasn't so bad. He noted that Higgs hadn't left yet, she looked back at him with a scornful scowl and aggressively exited the arena.

Kelly and Star couldn't stop telling the other girls about what happened after school had finished. They may have embellished the story just a little bit, making him out to be heroic than he really was.

"That's pretty cool," Janna said after the story. "So you some kind of high-class warrior or something?"

"No, it's karate.," he admitted. "It's a martial art where you learn how to fight and defend yourself without the use of weapons."

"So do all humans know karate?" Jackie asked.

"No, it's just a skill you learn if you want. And karate's not the only martial art, there are hundreds of different types of martial arts back home." The girls awed in amazement, guess something like hand-to-hand was foreign in most dimensions.

A buzzer went off from Marco's phone, it was his alarm reminding him of an appointment. "Hey I have to go; I'll catch up with you girls later."

He walked headed back to the school, not sure what to expect from his meeting. It was his third day but already he slowly got accustomed to some streets, noting certain landmarks to create a mental map.

"Mr. Diaz." He was stopped by one of his teachers. The blue one that floated around a lot, Professor Glossaryck. He oversaw all major magical practice classes, even Star and Meteora's advanced classes. "I'm glad I caught you, something I wanted to discuss with you."

"Professor, hi!" the boy responded. "Something the matter? If it's due to the lack of understanding of your course I'm sorry, magic's just a new concept to me."

"No no no, my dear boy." The bearded man assured Marco. "Actually, I wanted to tell you how impressed I was by your total lack of knowledge."

"Uh, thanks?" Marco wasn't sure whether it was a compliment or not.

"Marco, though you never got an answer correct, you also weren't wrong. I was quite astonished of your fresh new perspective." His teacher reassured him.

"What, really? How's that possible?"

"When it comes to magic, nothing is in black and white or even in many shades of grey. In fact, it encompasses the entire spectrum. As you said, you have no knowledge of magic, yet you proved to me to have a deeper understanding that no other student could think of, and you don't even realize it yourself. You must have thought you made a clown of yourself in class today, but I was actually impressed." He placed his tiny, six-fingered hand on Marco's shoulder. "I think you belong here more than you realize."

"Wow, thank you, sir," Marco said with pride. "But you caught me at a difficult time, I need to be somewhere."

"Of course, run along. I said what I needed." He allowed Marco to pass on to his own matters and watched the boy disappear into the distances. He looked to a flag flapping in the gentle breeze that had the school's mascot, the white-eyed millhorse. "I think Eclipsa chose a promising one, let's hope he lives up to our expectations."

Marco arrived at his destination. It was on the third floor of the school building where most of the faculty resided. In front of him was a paned door that had the words _HEKAPOO _written on them. He heard his teacher from the other side confirming that he could enter. This may have been brash, something Marco would usually never do; but he wanted to change, to be more outspoken. He was given a second shot at having a new social life, why not try being a bit more assertive?

**Okay, I realize that this was a short…er chapter than usual, but in my defence, I was drunk 80% of the time I wrote this and I kind of ran out of ideas on what to write after the Marco/Higgs fight. Also, it basically explains the shotty writing near the end. Don't look at me like that, I actually write these drunk half the time, but I was more so than usual this time around.**

**Sorry.**

**In other news, it's come to my attention that a number of you want more juicy scenes. Now yes, I will be including the juice, you can quote me on that, but I don't plan on making it extravagant and depraved. I don't like when anime flaunts it more than the actual story, like, I hated Highschool of the Dead because it was 90% fanservice and very little plot; awful, just awful. Kept away from Highschool DxD and Prison School (why are they all centred around highschool? I said as I realize what the setting to my story is) because of the same reason! **

**Shit I gotta stop, I'm about to go on a tangent, what was I talking about again? Oh, right! So yeah, there will be the juice, but it will either be in good taste or rapidly comedic. Also, as I said this was a rather short chapter, I don't know if I'll make the chapters longer in the future, I like to keep posting every few days with short chapters rather than every 2-ish weeks for a decently long chapter.**

**Think that's all the update I wanted to tell you folks about.**

**P.S., still a wee bit drunk typing this. (I am 100% professional.)**


	6. A Dance With the She-Devil

Marco and Tam sat at a table with Marco reading from a book and making screeching and gurgled roaring sounds.

"Okay, that was close," Tam responded after he finished. "But you just told me 'my cabbage was smiling'."

"I was trying to make a conversation starter by saying the weather was nice." He closed the book and slammed his head on the table. "You were right, this is difficult."

Tammy was helping him in his Demonic's course, apparently, the language had no actual form, it was just a bunch of yelling and audible vocal reflexes without structure.

"You're actually doing not too bad," Tam said in between bites of her sandwich. "What say we take a break. Won't do you any good if we keep progressing like this."

"Maybe your right," Marco said defeated taking a drink from his milkshake. "So what are the others up to?"

"Meteora is doing some private classes with Professor Glossaryck, Star and Jackie are doing their own studying, Kelly's doing her own thing with one of her friends, and Janna's doing whatever Janna does alone." She answered.

"So just us today?"

"Pretty much." Marco wasn't too thrilled with that. He had gotten to know Tammy for a little while and would never know when something may set her off, and he had no idea how to defuse the situation. But she was decent company when calm so all he had to do was keep her away from triggers.

"Uh oh," he said when he found his pocket was empty.

"What's the matter?"

"I can't find my wallet," Marco replied patting himself and checking all his other pockets. "It's gotta be somewhere."

"Maybe you left it back in your dorm," Tam suggested and pulled out her own from her purse. "It's cool, I'll pay for you today."

"Sorry, I'll pay you back when I find it." Marco gathered his books, feeling guilty that he got a girl he barely knew to pay for his meal.

"Dude, all you had was a milkshake. They're like, $4, I got this. We'll just head to your room and search for it, then we can have some fun." Tam dropped some cash on their table. Marco didn't feel right to just letting her pay for the whole thing, but it's not like he could do anything about it.

Marco insisted that he kept practicing on their walk, some of it he did well with, but for the most part, he needed work; a lot of work. Though he did feel a bit embarrassed when they got the odd look from others when he kept screeching like a pterodactyl with downs.

"So did you have anything in mind that we're going to do?" He asked the demoness as they arrived at his dorm.

"Something or two, but nothing specific. I thought we'd walk around until we spotted something that interested us, want to do, or maybe just enjoy the day." She answered.

"Well, whatever it is I'm paying for the first round, as soon as I find my wallet," Marco replied as they entered his room.

"Try the bottom drawer, that's where I usually find things I've lost." Said Janna, casually laying on Marco's bed and reading a book of his and several of his belongings scattered around the room.

"JANNA!" Marco cried, annoyed to see her having gone through his stuff. And of course, acting as if she belonged here. "What are you doing here?! How'd you get in?"

"Made a copy of your keys." She presented a set of identical keys to Marco's without looking away from the book. Marco swiped her reading the material that identified safe and dangerous plants, and took her copy keys and pushed her out the door.

"Okay, fine. But I made plenty of spares." She devilishly giggled and jingled another set of keys and ran off before he could stop her.

"I should probably talk to someone about getting a new lock for my door." Marco thought aloud.

"Hey, check it out. She was right, your wallet was there." Tam held his wallet in her hand as she crouched over his open clothing drawer. Marco panicked and grabbed the wallet from her hand and quickly closed the drawer, hoping she didn't see much.

"Marco, are embarrassed for a girl to see your sock drawer?" She teased him and looked at his floor, littered with his personal effects. "I mean, not like there's much to hide now."

Marco was mortified, everything would have been okay if not for Janna. Tam rolled her eyes seeing how he embarrassed he looked.

"Oh, come on Marco, it's not that bad." She starts listing off items as she helps him clean up. "What are you afraid of someone learning? You're black-rimmed sunglasses? Or maybe you were scared someone would see your neon blue pushy vest? Or what this very _tantalizing_ book on… what is this? _50 Recipes on Making Ultra-Supreme-Nacho's?"_ Tam starts busting in laughter.

"Okay, okay. Maybe I'm a little protective of my personal belongings, but can you blame me? I just had an invasion of privacy." His face went dark with fear. "Who knows what she may have found."

"Oh yes," Tam said wiping away tears. "Please tell me how you're so scared of her finding out about your limited-edition Love Sentence CD with bonus content." She laughed even harder, then realized what it was that she held in her hand. "A limited-edition Love Sentence CD with bonus content?"

There it was, that was one of the few things Marco was nervous about being found. Admitting that a boy-band was a teenage boy's favourite band was humiliating. He would just get teased and ridiculed further once people knew. It's happened before.

He clenched up, waiting for the verbal abuse that would all be in 'good fun' as some people once called it. Instead, a shrill cry assaulted his eardrums, and to Marco's surprise, Tam was gushing over what she found.

"Oh my god! How did you get this? There were only seventy-two in all existence. They go for millions of dollars." She practically jumped up and down, unable to contain her joy. "Marco, are you actually loaded with cash?"

"No, I won it in their fan give-away raffle." He was not expecting such a positive response, nothing like this had ever happened before. "Wait, how do you know Love Sentence? I thought other dimensions didn't associate with Earth?"

"Some things slip through the cracks. Dude, these guys are my all-time favourite band, I would give you anything to have this!" She grabbed both his arms and held tightly, staring at him intensely. "Anything."

Marco, admittedly, did have an idea or two on what he could request from her for this trade. Maybe something a little tantalizing or humiliating. But he was too nice for that, and could never go through with it.

"Sorry," he said pridefully, taking the CD from her. Now he had ammunition that he can use to tease her with. Letting it dangle in front of her, just out of arm's reach."But it's not for sale Tammy."

Marco realized he had made a huge mistake when he noticed Tammy's hair began to stand on end and her face started to look… terrifying. She was about to blow a gasket, and he was the direct cause of it standing in ground zero. Preparing himself for the worst verbal lashing he would ever receive and flaming pyres, he was amazed that Tam actually calmed herself down.

"It's okay Tammy, let it go. Just let it go. It's not something to get worked over." She told herself, taking deep breathes. "Don't be unreasonable, he's in the right to refuse you if he wants."

After a minute of talking herself down, the room cooled down and the smoke that had been emanating off her had disappeared entirely. "Sorry about that. Nearly lost it."

"It's okay," Marco replied tensely, noting that he probably just dodged a flaming bullet. "But I wasn't being serious when I said I wasn't willing to hand it over. I'd gladly loan it to you."

"Really?!" Tam's expression lit up, that was the happiest he had ever seen her. Or anybody really. Her smile was huge and it looked like her eyes were sparkling. "You'd really let me borrow it?"

"Sure," he opened the case and grabbed his laptop, inserting the disk into its slot. "Or, we could listen to it now."

Marco grabbed his sunglasses from before, trying to look cooler as a beat began playing and he perfectly sang along. Soon Tam joined in to make it a duet, and for the next ninety minutes, the two had a blast, pretending to be at an actual concert.

"Wow, that was a lot of fun," Tam said with a huge grin after they had their fun. They were currently discussing all thing Love Sentence related as they walked through the campus park. "And you're seriously okay with lending me this?"

"It's no problem," Marco confirmed, just happy to have a friend who was just as much into Love Sentence as he was. "But I am only **lending** it to you. I expect it back in the exact condition as I leant it to you."

"No problem. I'll be sure to take good care of it." She put the CD safely in her purse and brushed her hair behind her ear. "So, is there anything you have in mind to do now?"

"Not particularly, walking's nice." He noted that Tammy looked particularly pretty for whatever reason, maybe it was just the light from the sun.

"Walking's nice." She stepped closer and wrapped her arm around his, looking like they were a couple.

"Uh, what are you doing?" He wasn't prepared for whatever this was.

"Shut up, it's nice, isn't it? Plus, it may make some people jealous." She winked at him, wanting to play a few high jinks. But Marco wasn't certain if they were being played on him or other people. But he was certain of one thing: she was right, it was nice. He just hoped none of their friends would see them.

"Marco? Are you okay?" She asked after a while.

"What? Yeah, of course I am." He responded with a higher pitch in his voice.

"It's just, you're walking kind of stiffly."

"What? No, I'm not. It's just, uhh…" he tried thinking of a reason for his rigidity. "The heat! Yeah, I'm just walking in a manner that helps keep me cool."

"Marco, don't tell me you've never had a girl glomp on to your before." She giggled not buying his poor excuse. "You need to relax more. Come on, I have an idea." She pulled him along, not letting go of his arm, now with an idea on what they could do.

"Ahh, you were Tammy. I did need to relax." Marco said enjoying the sauna at the spa that Tammy took them to. Marco felt more relaxed than ever after a massage and foot bath.

"Told you," she said smugly. The two sat with towels wrapping them. It was a little nerve-racking for Marco to be all alone with her wearing nothing but towels, but as to not give Tam something more to tease him about, and his deep relaxivity, he physically could not show it.

Though anxiety did begin to grow slowly when he noticed how amazing Tam's bare legs looked, a smooth and glossy texture was added from the steam. He couldn't help but notice droplet having been formed from condensation, watching as they roll down her silky light-purple skin, gathering into a small pool as they dripped off her feet.

A bit of shame took him as intrusive thoughts filled his head of Tammy in some rather compromising positions wearing different outfits that mainly featured her legs. The usual ripped attire she wore as she sat on the ground, pointing her legs upward without the boots on. A back view of her legs straight as she bent over to look behind in a bunny girl costume with fishnet stockings. Dressed in regal attire, looking down at him with a domineering gaze as she flaunted elegant legs as she lorded over him like he was her plaything.

Wait, what was that last image?

"So Marco," his attention snapped back as he was trying to figure out if he'd learned something new about himself from his previous fantasy. "What are your opinions about us?"

"What do you mean?" He wasn't certain of the question. Tam dropped down a bench and scooted to his left side.

"You know what I mean. You've been here for a while and it's just the two of us here, you can be open with me. What are your thoughts on us? You know, me, Star, Jackie, everyone in our group compared to your friends back home?"

"Well, I don't want to talk badly about my other friends, but you girls are a lot different."

"Oh, do you mean physically, like how we have certain _**assets**_ that your guy friends don't have?" Tammy emphasized her alluring comment by pushing her arms closer into her chest, allowing her feminine wiles to be more prominent under her towel as she gave him seductive eyes.

Marco went red as his eyes couldn't help but look when she did that, trying desperately to form even a single word. Tam leaned back and held her sides as she howled with laughter, kicking her legs back and forth from seeing Marco's reaction.

"Dude, you're too easy to tease." She gave him a playful shove. "But seriously, tell me your thoughts."

"Well, Star's the first to have become my friend. She's kind, bubbly, kind of irresponsible, and really outgoing. Kelly's fun and scares me with how strong she is whenever we spar. Jackie's always helpful, relaxed, and encouraging. I don't have much to say about Meteora, she's kind of distant towards me, but I can see that she cares for the rest of you girls dearly. And Janna's… weird. She's just weird, okay?"

"You just described our personalities;" she pointed out, not getting the answer she was looking for. "I was talking about us. Who we are to you and how we compare to your previous friends?"

"Well, I had two close friends back home. Ferguson and Alfonzo. Most people would say they were kind of lame but they were the truest friends a guy could ask for. We would have all kinds of fun together, have countless adventures playing D&D, sleepovers when we were kids; I made a lot of great memories with them. Admittedly they were kind of lame, but they didn't care; they knew who they were and what people thought of them, but it never broke their self-confidence in themselves, and I had no greater fun than when I was hanging out with them. But with you girls, it's a bit different. All your interests are different, dynamics aren't the same, and other than just learning you love Love Sentence too, I don't have a whole lot in common with any of you. I don't know magic, I don't do sports, I'm not into shrunken heads. But for some reason, I feel more comfortable with you girls than I ever did with Ferguson and Alfonzo, I like it here."

"So, you're saying you like us?" Marco figured this was another one of her teasing moments, trying to get him to say something and twist his words. But he noticed that she avoided his gaze and stroked her left arm. She spoke with sincerity and genuine interest, anticipating his answer.

"Well, yeah. I like you." He answered honestly, giving her a friendly smile when she looked up at him, did she look a little red?

"Ow!" Marco exclaimed as Tam pinched his arm. "What was that for?"

"You didn't mention what you thought of me when were describing what your thoughts of the other girls." Tammy pouted with slightly puffy cheeks, feeling like she was left out.

"Well, you…" He tried thinking of the right words to describe her. Talking about a person when they're not around and talking about them directly are two different things and you can never be sure if you say the wrong thing. "You have a terrible temper, love to make others feel a little insecure about themselves for your own amusement, and can be kind of cold and blunt at times."

Tam looked offended by his answer and was about to slap him and storm out after being so generous with her time today.

"But, you are kinder than you let on, bring joy to even the ones you tease, realize that your anger affects the people around you and you make efforts to improve that, and you have amazing taste in music." Marco added, making all the negative things a said seem insignificant.

"Thanks." She said back taking the compliment and put her hands between her crossed legs.

"So what do you think about me?" Marco asked, now curious.

"You?" She scoffed. "You're a gullible nerd from a backwater magicless dimension that's never had a girl latch on to him until today, probably never kissed one too."

"Have too!" Marco rebutted.

"Yeah right. Your mom doesn't count." Tam joked, making it seem like she didn't believe him for a second just have more fun. Then his index finger and thumb gently held her chin and turned her head towards his, supporting his body by leaning on his other arm that had passed by Tammy, bringing himself closer to her.

"Well if you don't believe me, why don't we change that." He said in a soft-spoken voice, closing his eyes and leaning in towards her.

Tam's face flushed red and she gave out a cute and silent peeping noise. Before their mouths could touch, she pushed him off of her with all her might and he landed on his butt in the sauna floor.

"What do you think you're doing?" She recoiled and wrapped her body protectively with her arms.

"I got you!" Marco couldn't contain his laughter. "The look on your face! After getting teased by you all day I finally got you to make such a flustered face!"

Tam's face went redder than Marco's ever did when she realized that he did it all for a prank, to get back at her for all the teasing she pulled today.

"I- You- That was- You- JERK!" She blurted when she couldn't make a proper sentence and stormed out the sauna, very frustrated.

Despite the event that ended in the sauna they decided to go to a café together. Tam was still a little red and annoyed at Marco who kept grinning like an idiot.

"Come on," he said as he handed her a coffee. "It was all in good fun. No hard feelings, right?"

"Well, some jokes go a little too far." She grumbled knowing he got the better of her and sipped her coffee as Marco sat down. "Eh, too cold."

"Really? It felt pretty hot to me."

"Yeah, to you," a small flame burned of her palm and she held the percaline cup over it. "The internal temperature of a demon's body is higher than most, we feel warm externally, but internally it's like a raging fire. If we want hot coffee, it needs to be **hot**."

The drink eventually began to bubble violently and Tam said it was perfect as she took a sip, and immediately spat it out.

"Careful!" Marco cried as the dark liquid sprayed over the table. If it had reached him he probably would have been scolded. "See, you made it too hot now."

"Not that," Tam made herself as small as possible and began to angle herself to hide behind Marco. "It's Larry, my ex is here."

"He is?" Marco looked behind him to where Tam was trying to get out of view shot and saw three guys talking to one another. One was a Mewman with black hair tied in a ponytail, another was a muscular blue fishman with green fins that looked like hair, and the third was a pixie. "Which one is he?"

"Don't look!" Marco quickly turned on her command. "He's the fishman. Let's get out of here before he spots-"

"Tammy?" And before she could finish her sentence her ex was at their table. "Hey, it is you!"

Tam sighed in disgust, wanting to have avoided this exact situation.

"Hi, Larry." She replied flatly and crossed her arms.

"Hi, I'm glad I ran into you, something's been on my mind for a while. I want us to get back together." He admitted. "I'm sorry for breaking up, I should have been more considerate with your feelings, I know it's not your fault and you probably don't want to see me, but I really do miss you. Can I get another chance?"

"No way, we're through Lar." He said coldly. "I went through all kinds of anger management courses for you, even taking up hobbies that were supposed to help relieve agitation and anger. But after all that, I still couldn't change and you couldn't take it. And now you want us to get back together? Well forget it, you're not getting me without getting my wrath too, so what makes you think you'll be able to handle that for a second time? But if we did get back together, I'd give us two, maybe three months at best before you cave in and break up with me again. Well no way, I'm not going through that again mister."

"Tammy, please!" He begged. "I know, I was inconsiderate, that's my fault. You're right, you tried to change for me but I wasn't giving anything back, I wasn't reciprocating your feelings. But I'm ready now, honest, please, just one more chance? I really do miss you."

"Buddy, no offence but she said no. I think this is a losing battle." Marco commented.

"No offence, _buddy_, but I'm trying to have a conversation to get back with my girl back. Who are you?"

"This, Larry, is my new boyfriend. And I'm his girl now." Tam sat closer to Marco and wrapped herself around his arm again like in the park, but more aggressively.

"What?" The two boys said in unison, shocked by her answer.

"Tammy, you can't be serious?" Larry said in disbelief. "I mean, come on, it's been less than two weeks since our break-up, he's obviously a rebound. And don't tell me he's a close friend of yours. We were together for two years and you never mentioned or introduced me to him once."

"Tam, I-" Marco didn't want to be dragged further into her drama than she was already pulling him into and tried clearing all misunderstanding, but recoiled in pain when he felt Tam crushing his arm, threatening him to play along. "-think we should go; I think it would be for best."

"Agreed!" The two stood up together.

"Tammy, please wait!." Larry stopped them and grabbed Tam. "I don't believe this for a second! I want to prove to you that I can change. I **want** to change, for you."

"Let go of me!" She demanded through gritted teeth. Marco noticed that they were starting to make a scene and people were beginning to stare. What's more, he noticed that Tammy was growing more and more furious, pretty close to having one of her episodes as she was arguing with her ex. Marco needed to think of a way to stop all of this fast, and only thought of one idea that came to his head in such little time.

He grabbed Tam and kissed her, for a few seconds. Larry gasped and let go of her in surprise, seeing the tender moment that she was having with her new boyfriend, confirming that she was over him. Tam, on the other hand, was more surprised than he ex by Marco's impulsive action. She froze and was beet red after he broke away from her.

"She's over you pal, just admit it," Marco said, looking at Larry with hard conviction.

"Uh, yeah," Tam said as she precariously wrapped her arms around Marco's neck, helping to pull off the act.

"Come on babe, let's go." Marco led her out the café, his hand around her waist. Kelpbottom never chased after them.

After a while when they figured they were in the clear, they broke apart and began hyperventilating. They actually got away with that.

"What the hell man?" Tam screamed at him, more shocked at his action than angry.

"I'm sorry!" He replied just as exasperated. "I had to diffuse the situation somehow and get him off our backs! Tammy, I am so sorry about that!"

"It's… it's okay." She replied sheepishly. "It… was probably the right call, I mean it worked after all. So you're off the hook this time. But I will roast you alive if you try something like that again!"

"Understood." He answered immediately, scared for his life as she presented a fistful of fire, but it's not like he needed the motivator to agree to her demand. It was stupid to have done it in the first place. "I promise I won't try that again!"

An awkwardly long time of silence passed by with the two just standing in front of one another under the open night sky, too shy to look the other in the eye.

"I think I'll head home now." He said, trying to avoid any more awkwardness.

"Hang on," she stopped him grabbing his jacket lightly, still too reluctant to look at him. "You mind walking me to my place first?"

Marco probably should have said no, but he couldn't refuse her. They walked side-by-side, looking away from the other, giving the occasional look back and immediately avoiding eye contact when they noticed they were looking at each other.

"So how was it?" Tam asked, finally breaking the ice. "Your first kiss, I mean."

"As I said before, it wasn't my first." He answered.

"Really, did you have a girlfriend back home?" She asked, then felt she needed to add more. Telling herself it was just for friendly informational gathering to better know a platonic friend. "Do you still have a girlfriend?"

"No. No, neither of those things." He answered honestly. "Nothing happened between us, it just… look I'd rather not talk about that, or about any kissing, okay?"

"Sure, sure." Tam wasn't persistent to know, too much tension in the air.

"Well, this is me." She said as they got to the girl's dorms. "Thanks for, everything, I guess. But look, we started to draw a crowd so people will probably talk. Let's clear the air and get our story straight. Shortly after what happened at the café, we broke up because I realized that Kelpbottom was right, you are a rebound and I don't actually love you, but we stayed friends. Okay?"

"Okay," Marco agreed, liking the sound of that story. "Wait, did you break up with me? Why couldn't I be the one to break up with you?"

"Hello, you're the rebound. I'm the girl going through emotional turmoil and needs to figure herself out before dating anyone again."

"That… does make sense." Marco admitted. "Kind of hoping I could have been another guy you scared away with your unholy temper." He remarked jokingly. Soon the two started to snicker at his joke and then broke out into laughter.

"That does sound believable." Tammy agreed, catching her breath. "But I'm not getting dumped twice in a row in two weeks."

The mood lightened and the two were able to look at one another again, no longer feeling awkward or guilty.

"Well, goodnight Marco." Tam eventually said.

" 'Night Tam," Marco replied and the two separated for their own places. "Hey, you don't think the girls will find out about this before we get a chance to tell them what really happened, do you?"

"Hard to say, but knowing the social butterfly Star is, she'll find out soon." Just then a ringing came from Tam's purse and she pulled out her compact mirror. "Speaking of the devil-butterfly. I think I'll take this and clear things up with her, hopefully, she hasn't told any of the others yet."

Marco chuckled a bit, he could just about hear Star's voice through the communicator from so far away as Tam tried to tell her to settle down. He stayed to watch as she made it all the way to her door, and gave a friendly wave to each other before closing it behind her.

It was an enjoyable walk back to his place, thinking about how it was another emotional rollercoaster of a day at Mewni high. But his enjoyment slowly faded as he recalled Tam's last question, about his first kiss, and the memory that came after it.

"I didn't do anything wrong. I wasn't in the wrong." He kept telling himself all the way back to his place.

"**A pterodactyl with downs" can't believe I typed that. Kinda messed up that I actually kept it in.**

**Anyway, another chapter done. I really enjoyed this one, feels like I was picking up the slack from the previous chapter that was lacking in excitement. The scene in the sauna right after when Marco was trying to kiss Tam was going to play out that she pushed him so hard his towel came undone after he stood up. But I got a great joke for next time that requires her not having any post-conceived knowledge.**

**Also, a new story idea that hit me recently. Anyone else see that old show ReBoot that started in the mid-90's? If you haven't, I really recommend you get on it, it was a great show (that, apparently, got a really shitty sequel series on Netflix. I don't know, don't have the will to see how bad it is and why). The first and maybe second seasons animation doesn't exactly hold up to today, but it was a great show nonetheless with awesome writing. Anyway, does anyone else want to see an older Enzo Matrix and older Marco crossover? Obviously have AndrAIa, Hekapoo, Frisket, and Nachos too.**

**God, I want to start writing that! First, I'd have to rewatch the series to get a better grasp on what Matrix's character was like, I recall him starting as a bitter and distant anti-hero that later has an internal struggle and pulls himself out of his angst and brooding figure into a more reliable person. To learn more about why the hero having an internal struggle and helps himself without the aid of external forces is such an interesting topic, check out Overly Sarcastic Production's "Trope Talk: We're Not So Different" and then check out the rest of their channel. They're great and deserve the recognition, I'm sure you'll love them. (Go ahead and PM me if you do check them out and give me your opinion, I'd like to know)**

**Anyway, those who are in the know, think about it: two kids who went through adventures and grew into powerhouse badass adults. Two hot babes by their side and are their greatest ally/lover/supporter. And two badass pets!**

**Oh yeah, it's all coming together. I gotta binge ReBoot now, I suggest you do the same!**

**Bye.**


	7. Undressing Secrets

"I'm telling you; I saw it!" Star insisted. She and the other girls sat at their table in the cafeteria.

"No way, there's no way you saw it without him noticing," Kelly said in disbelief.

"Yeah, how'd you even see it in the first place?" Janna asked.

"I walked in on him while he was changing," Star admitted. "He didn't notice me but I swear I saw it."

"Tam, you two dated, can you confirm?" Janna turned to the demon girl.

"I keep telling you girls, we didn't date, it was an act to get Larry off my back." She said, annoyed that day keeps getting brought up. "And no, I never saw it."

"Didn't guys go to a spa? How did you not see it then?" Asked Meteora.

"I never got a good look at it, never once saw it, okay? Can we please drop it?" She said angrily denying that there was anything truly significant to that night.

"Well, if you really saw it, how big was it?" Jackie curiously asked. Star held two of her hands ten to twelve inches apart. Everyone gasped that it had to be that big.

"No way! That any bigger than any I've had!" Janna blurted.

"Janna!" Star said a little offended she had no shame in being so open.

"What, I got nothing to hide." She took a sip of her soda, not bothered by what her friends thought of her lifestyle.

"Okay, just to humour you, we'll say he has one that big," Jackie got the train rolling again. "But it's kind of unbelievable Star, none of us have seen it. We just don't think you saw what you actually saw, you were probably just shocked to see him getting changed and your mind played tricks on you."

"NO! it's real. And it's there." Star said, persistent to prove she wasn't a liar. "So when he shows up, we ask him to show it to us."

"That may not work out," Meteora replied. "He's technically a minor, he may get in trouble if he shows it publicly, especially inside a school."

"And even if you ask him to show us it in private, he'll probably be reluctant to show us. Maybe he's embarrassed by it?" Kelly added.

"Oh, he'll definitely be reluctant," Tam supported Kelly's theory. "He's way too uptight of his privacy. He'll never show us."

"Well, he has it!" Star slammed her fists on the table, determined to prove herself right.

"Who has what?" A voice asked from behind.

"I'm trying to prove that Marco has a—AAAAAHHH, calculator." Star almost let it slip and quickly recovered when she saw that the voice behind her was the boy in question.

"Uh, yes, I do have a calculator," Marco admitted, confused why that would be a subject. "You need to borrow it? I don't have a class that requires it today."

"NO! No, we're just playing a game, 'Guess the Things Marco Has'." Star covered with a fake smile. "And you do have a calculator, that's another point for me."

"Oookay," Marco said a little confused as to why they're playing a game like that. "Anyway, I got class in a bit so I have to take off. See you girls later?"

"Oh, we'll be seeing a LOT of you later," Janna said, implying something Marco really didn't want to delve into and left. "So how you going to get proof?"

"The old-fashioned way, photographic evidence." Star whipped out her compact.

"I don't know Star," Jackie voiced her concerns. "This may seem like an invasion of privacy. Maybe you should ask him first, maybe he'll be more open than you think."

"Nope! Time to be a spy!" Star jumped up on the table enthusiastically, ignoring Jackie's advice.

Star spent the next few hours tailing Marco, compelled to get photographic proof. She thought hiding in the boys' locker room would be perfect after he had P.E. and would need to change. She ended up never getting a good view of him because the swim team also needed to change at the same time, and their tall muscular bodies blocked her view. She ended up breaking out into flakes of purple hearts, a physical reaction of mewberty when she gets sexually aroused.

She thought that by 'accidentally' spilling soda on him, it would force him to change into something new, then secretly take a picture while he was disrobed. Unfortunately, she ended up tripping and spilling the drink on someone else who really didn't take exception to that. Marco and Star ended up running from the scene.

A devilish idea later came to her mind, she figured she would wait for him to go to sleep, sneak into his room, and carefully remove his clothes just enough to get proof. She asked Janna to help her, what with her exceptional sneaking abilities, and she too wanted to see it. Plus, Janna took whatever excuse she had to bother Marco. Unfortunately, they were caught by campus security and Star got an earful from her mother on how she knew girls shouldn't be at the boys' dorms, not knowing the real reason Star was there.

"It's hopeless," Star said defeated, lying face down in her bed. "Every time I think of a great idea something goes wrong; it's like the universe doesn't want me to prove I'm not lying."

"Star, none of us are calling you a liar," Jackie reassured her. "But don't you think you may be going a little overboard?"

"I just… I swear I saw it! But now I'm doubting myself and I just want to put it all behind me. But I'll never know if I don't see it again. I can't rest, that image is taunting me!"

"Maybe you're going about this the wrong way," Meteora suggested.

"What do you mean?" Star looked up to her cousin.

"Why not try using a spell? There's a number of them that can help you, you know."

"Okay, no!" Jackie interrupted. "Star you can't do that. Coming up with crazy plans and sneaking around to get a picture is already too much, but using magic to accomplish this? That's going too far, you may end up hurting him."

Star sat up thinking hard and weighing her options.

"Star, no!" Jackie discouraged her, seeing that she was actually considering it.

"I do know of a spell that can spy on him," she said thinking off all the spells her professor taught her. "It won't affect him, it's like he'll never know and I won't have to take a picture so there'll be no physical evidence. If I just keep it a secret it's like nothing ever happened."

"But it will happen," Jackie pointed out, trying to be the voice of reason. "Star, sneaking around is one thing, but you're actually spying on him now. It's an invasion of privacy and it's not right and you know it! Is betraying his trust really worth it?"

Star went silent for a while, taking what Jackie said into account. "I have to know Jackie; it's eating away at me."

Jackie got up off Star's bed and walked to the door. "Then you're doing it knowing you betrayed your friends and their faith in you."

She slammed the door behind her, leaving the two Butterflys alone.

"So you really going through with it then?" Meteora asked.

"Yep," Star said flatly and began chanting. "I summon the All-Seeing Eye to tear a hole into the sky. Reveal to me that which is hidden. Unveil to me what is forbidden."

A purple ball of fire with yellow wisps burst forth with an eye in the center. The eye peeled back to show Marco Diaz, alone in his room, at the perfect time too because he began changing. Star and Meteora watched closely, looking to catch even a glimpse of what they're looking for. But Jackie's words echoed through Star's head. What was she doing?

She caught sight of something personal of Marco's, she's going to extreme lengths to see it again just to satisfy her curiosity, but at what cost? She realized that Jackie was right, this wasn't right and dispelled the Eye just as Marco was shirtless and unfastening his pants.

"Hey, what gives?" Meteora responded, so close to seeing the mythical and possibly legendary thing that Marco possessed.

"What am I doing Meteora?" She asked sorrowfully. "I shouldn't be doing this, Jackie's right, it's not right. I should be ashamed of myself."

"Maybe a little," Meteora put an arm around her cousin's shoulders to comfort her. "But what teenage girl doesn't try and spy on a cute guy now and then? Sure, you went a little hellbent on finding out if you really did see what you thought you saw. But you also saw that what you were doing was wrong and stopped before it went too far, and that makes you a good person."

"Thanks, cuz," Star said and hugged Meteora, feeling a bit better. "Now, I have to go see Marco, tell him everything, and apologize for it."

"Atta girl!" Star went to her door, determined to make things right. She stopped as she reached the doorknob and looked back at her cousin.

"Wait, did you say he was cute?" Star asked quizzically.

"Objectively speaking, he's passable." Meteora shrugged in a relaxed manner. Star squinted her eyes and slowly exited her room, not breaking eye contact from Meteora until she was completely out of sight. "And I'm pretty sure he thinks you're cute too."

"Look, Kevin, I keep telling you, I didn't take your bar of soap. I have my own, why would I need yours too?" Marco said as he heard a knock from his door. When he answered it he was surprised to find it wasn't the imp-like student he had an argument with earlier and had accused Marco of taking his bar of soap in the shower room.

"Um, this a bad time?" Star asked, not sure what he was talking about.

"No, don't worry about it. Need something?"

"Can I come in, there's something I need to tell you," Star said timidly. Marco allowed her, curious as to what she wanted to tell him. He had recently gotten out of the showers and his hair was still damp and he wore a plain grey t-shirt and loose pants.

"So, what's up?"

"Marco… do you have a tattoo?" She asked him.

"What? No, why would ask that? Is this apart of that game you girls were playing the other day?" He asked confused.

"No, it's just… A while back I came to get you one morning and walked in without announcing, then I saw you changing and I'm pretty sure I saw a tattoo on your back. And it's been driving me crazy ever since and I've been doing some drastic things to find out whether it's true or not. And just recently I was using a spell to spy on you but realized that it was wrong so I came to apologize. So, I'm sorry for betraying your trust and trying to find something personal about you without your consent."

Marco stared at her for a moment, processing what she said. She was tense at what Marco was going to say to her, how angry he would be. Would he no longer want to be friends with her?

"Is that all?" Star was dumfounded by his reply; he wasn't the least bit furious. He turned around and removed his shirt to reveal his naked back. On the right side was a red mark that stretched out in every direction like a sun, but the circle it made was hollow inside with his natural skin colour, resembling a solar eclipse. The marks that protruded outward took up most of the upper right side of his back and stretched a bit across his spine and wrapped over his shoulder and ribs.

"It's not a tattoo, it's a birthmark." He corrected her and unrolled his shirt after she got a long enough look. "Look, Star, I am a little hurt that you tried going behind my back to see, well, my back. But thank you for telling me. I'm not angry at you or disappointed, and I know we haven't known each other for very long, but if there's ever anything you need to ask me or talk to me about, I'm all ears."

"Oooh, Marco." Star's heart nearly burst from his kindness and sincerity and she hugged him. He, in turn, hugged her back, showing that everything was okay. Then he felt his shirt lift up again and the sounds of a picture being taken. He pulled back to see she was holding her compact.

"Sorry," she replied waving her mirror innocently. "Told the girls I'd get a picture of it."

All Marco could do was look at her, now he was a little disappointed.

The next day the girls gathered around Star, looking at the picture of her holding Marco's shirt up and giving a thumbs up with a huge smile.

"So you don't actually have a tattoo?" Janna asked Marco.

"Nope," he curtly answered.

"Not yet you don't." The witch commented with a mischievous grin and pulled out a needle with wet black ink.

"Down girl," Kelly put a hand on Janna's arm and lowered it. "So, you got any other bodily abnormalities?"

"Not really, just the birthmark." He shrugged.

While the girls kept asking him various questions, Star pulled Jackie to the side. "Thanks for reminding me of what's right, and I'm sorry for what I tried even when you advised me not to."

"Hey, I knew you'd do the right thing in the end." The two hugged, making up with each other. Their moment was short as they heard Marco cry, telling Janna to stop as she tried playfully jabbing him with her inked needle.

**Yeah, so this was basically just a shenanigans chapter. Figured I'd do some like these every now and then. Just have fun with it, you know? J**

**okewasthecontextmadeitsoundliketheyweretalkingabouthispenis**


	8. Cutting it Close

"So that's what it's been like here." Marco finished.

"Awww, your life sounds so cool now." His sister complained from the other end of the line. "I wish I could go to school in another dimension."

"It just sounds exciting, it's actually very similar to schools' back home."

"Marco, you have a Combat and Magic classes," Mariposa pointed out. "How is that similar to here?"

"Okay, you have a point there," he responded, unable to counter. "Anyway, it was great hearing from you again but there's something I need to attend to in a bit. But I'll be home for the winter in a few weeks and keep calling you guys."

"You'd better," she said. "I've missed having my bro around. Mom and dad are… more attentive to me; it's weirding me out."

"Don't I know it," Marco remembered all the times his sister would be off on some trip and he became the center of his parents' attention. "Talk to you later Mar."

"Until next time Mar." Mar, the nickname the twins called each other since they were kids since they basically shared the same name. The line cut out and Marco closed his new compact mirror, he finally got one after he got tired of having to go to the public mirrors at the school.

Was it wrong to say Marco was happy? He made a good group of friends, was given a once in a lifetime opportunity, at the top of most of his classes and slowly climbing the ones he had to learn from scratch. He was certainly happy, but not content. He wasn't greedy, there was just an important factor that was missing from his life.

"You good?" Jackie asked. She, Janna, and Kelly were all present for when he made the call.

"Yeah, it's just… I miss them, you know?" He replied.

"Yeah, I know," the mergirl said. "I miss my mom and the ocean."

"Things aren't the same without my dad around," Kelly added, feeling just as wistful as the others.

"Eh, I'm used to being separated from my parents for long periods of time," Janna said, obviously not in the same boat. "That's by choice, by the way."

"Right, well, I have something to do." Marco stood up and excused himself.

"Hang on, I have something myself." Jackie grabbed her bag and joined Marco.

"So, what's your thing?" Marco asked after they removed themselves.

"Helping you." She answered him, inviting herself into his plans.

"Uh, no offence, but I think I can handle it well enough," Marco said confidently, delicately brushing her off.

"You're going to see Hekapoo to ask her for a pair of scissors." How the hell did she know that? Jackie could see the surprised look on Marco wondering how she figured it out. "I read minds, Marco."

"What? Really?" He yelped. Then got really worried since he may have had a number of inappropriate thoughts about her. She just laughed at his reaction, better than what she expected.

"No dude," she punched him playfully. "I'm just well aware of my friends' personal lives than I let on. Yours included. And I know you've been going to her office every week demanding to take her test. And if you go in trying the same tactic, you're going to get the same result. Here's my advice: be drastic."

"Drastic? How?"

"Impress her," she answered. "You go in like you usually do by either asking, demanding or begging to take that test, you'll fail. Use that big egg brain of yours and think of a different strategy, something she'll give in to."

"But how do I do that?" He asked. "I've tried everything I could think of, I've even shown an understanding and comprehension of her class, but still she keeps rejecting me. How can I impress her?"

"You leave that to me, that's why I'm here." She shot him a confident smile with a thumbs up, showing him that she had a plan.

"Okay," he replied uncertainly, but it's not like he had many options at this point. "But, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Why are you helping me?" Jackie was a considerate girl, he figured she was doing this out of kindness. But it turns out she's more observant than what he thought, or what the rest of their friends did. If she was so knowledgeable of what her friends did on their own time, why does she keep her mouth shut?

"Well, if I asked you for help, would you help me?" She replied.

"Yeah," Marco confirmed.

"Then that's all there is to it. If you'd do this for me, why wouldn't I do this for you?" She answered him. Marco was amazed at her simplicity. He expected a grand story or maybe an ulterior motive; but in reality, he was just overthinking it.

It could be said the two were polar opposites. Marco was always thinking and well organized, freaking out and worrying about a lot of his daily life. While Jackie, she just took life in stride, letting everything wash over her and went with the flow of it all. Marco figured maybe he should start acting a bit like her, relax a little.

"Before we go in, do you have any idea what the test is? For weeks I've been asking around but nobody has an answer for me." Marco confessed, the two stood in front of Hekapoo's office door, her name and role at the school displayed on it.

"No idea," Jackie admitted. "People who have attempted it always give a different story, apparently it changes from person to person. No two people get the same test. And they're all extremely difficult so rarely anyone attempts."

"Okay then," Marco knocked on the door, at least he now knew that there was truly no way of knowing what the test may entail. They heard the professor's voice from the other side beckoning them in.

Her office was as messy as ever with sheets of paper scattered everywhere and two piles on her desk with a nameplate that said _Hekapoo_ on it, the pile to her left was significantly larger than the one on her right. She was grabbing sheets from the smaller pile and writing on them, possibly grading assignments. She looked up to see the two students and groaned, putting down her pen.

"Diaz, unless this is something relating to class, you already know what my answer is," her eyes shifted to Jackie. "And may I ask what miss Thomas is doing here as well?"

"Miss Hekapoo," the teacher crossed her arms and growled lowly at Marco who still forgets about her pet peeve.

"HEKAPOO," he corrected himself. "I am here to ask to take your test to obtain a pair of dimensional scissors for myself."

"No!" Hekapoo said immediately. "And unless you have anything other questions pertaining to school, I suggest you get out now."

"Why do you keep rejecting me?" He demanded. "Every time I come in you just say no and give me no reason. Why can't I take your test?"

"Because," Hekapoo glared at him. "To possess dimensional scissors demands responsibility. I need to know I can trust you. I don't know you, Diaz, I don't know what a human will do with the kind of power that comes with dimensional scissor, so I can't risk it."

"If you agree to allow Marco to take your test, even if he should fail, he'll never bother asking again." Jackie cut in.

"What?" Marco squawked. This was her plan?

"Fine! Whatever, deal!" Hekapoo agreed to the terms, exhausted and just wanted Marco out.

"Wait, that worked? That's all I had to do?" Marco was bewildered. "What about all that about responsibility and trust?"

"Look, you've worn me out," Hekapoo confessed as she stood up. "I have no faith that you will actually pass my test, but I just want you to stop coming to me."

"Okay, so what's the test?" Marco asked his teacher. What could it be? A written exam? An oral evaluation? Go on a journey to acquire a precious item?

"We're playing a game of tag," Hekapoo announced flatly.

"Seriously?" The two students asked in unison, Marco in disappointment and Jackie in confusion.

"Seriously," Hekapoo confirmed. "Rules are simple: I'll start off as it. Diaz, you will be given a fifteen-minute head start, the boundaries go as far as the campus grounds. You may run and hide anywhere, buildings included. If caught and you become it, you must tag me back before time runs out. If you manage to do that, you win automatically. The time limit is twenty-four hours. Miss Thomas, you'll be joining in as Diaz will need all the help he can get. If he's tagged, you'll also be considered it so either of you could tag me and Diaz would win"

"Wait, this all seems skewered to my favour." Marco pointed out. "All I have to do is run and hide for twenty-four hours, anywhere I want within the campus, and I'll win? And if tagged, all I have to do is tag you back and I win no matter how much time remains?"

"Yes," Hekapoo confirmed.

"And Jackie's allowed to help? If I'm it and she tags that's a victory for me?"

"Honestly, you can get the whole school to help, it won't make any difference. Now, are we starting or not?"

"Well all right then, let the game begin!" Marco said excitedly.

An hourglass appeared on Hekapoo's hand from a burst of flame and she set it on the table, the sand now slowly pouring to the bottom.

"Your time starts now. I suggest you use every second you have to run." Hekapoo told them. The two rushed out of the room, trying to get as far away as they could.

"This is going to be easy!" Jackie cried as the pushed past the doors of the school. "You just have to avoid her for twenty-four hours and you'll get your own pair of dimensional scissors!"

"I know, I don't know what I was so worried about," Marco said excitedly. "This is going to be a piece of cake!"

It was not a piece of cake. After their fifteen minutes expired, it took no less than ten seconds for Hekapoo to find them hiding behind a building and tag Marco. Who, did not appreciate that she did so by slapping him in the back of his head and burning his hair while she did it.

Hekapoo turned out to be extraordinarily fast, the moment they saw her she was already leaving them in her literal dust trail. Sometimes she would appear to be distracted or they would try catching her off guard, but she'd just use portals to slip away.

"Hey, that's not fair," Marco complained.

"I set the rules dummy, I set the standards for what's fair and what's not." She taunted him before disappearing.

This went on for several hours until it was already dark out. The two were given special permission by Hekapoo to be allowed out after curfew so they wouldn't get in trouble by campus security.

The two laid on their backs on the cold grass, trying to catch their breath after another failed attempt.

"Dammit," Marco exclaimed in between huffs. "How can we catch her?"

"I don't know man, everything we've tried has failed so far." Jackie pondered as she put her fingers to her chin to think. "She's way too quick for us to chase and she can teleport to any location. This may actually be impossible."

"Maybe I should just give up," Marco said disheartened as he covered his face. "This is pointless, we'll never catch her."

"Hey, don't say that," Jackie encouraged him. "I may have said it was impossible, but if that were really the case then why would she even allow this test in the first place?"

"Who knows? Maybe I just enjoy seeing people struggle?" Hekapoo appeared beside the two, laying down on her side with her head propped on her hand. The two took quick notice and sprang into action, literally jumping at her. Sadly, she was too quick for the both of them and disappeared from the spot she laid in, cackling as she watched them struggle in vain.

"HA! You two will never catch me like that," she mocked as she opened a portal. "Diaz is right, just give up."

"It's hopeless!" Marco screamed in frustration as he fell back to the ground. "We'll never tag her."

"Maybe," Jackie laid down opposite of him, heads pointed to each other and staring up to the starry sky. Every step forward was two steps back for them.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Marco inquired after stewing in pitiful silence.

"What?"

"How are you so good at running? And the way you use your environment to your advantage for better mobility? I can barely keep up with you."

"A friend of mine taught me parkour," she confessed. "It's no surprise that I'm an excellent swimmer. But I also enjoy all non-team sports activities. Long-distance running, surfing and skating, rock climbing, I just love the physical activity and involvement. Pushing my body to its limit and feeling a sense of euphoria."

"Sounds a bit like my sister," Marco commented. "She was more an outdoors person and enjoys sports too."

"Having a sibling must be nice," Jackie noted putting her hands under her head. "The rest of us are solo children."

"Having a sibling is complicated. One minute you're fighting with each other on who gets the remote, and the next your making up because someone scraped their knee. You help each other, you prank each other. Some days they get on your nerve and wish they were never born, and other days you can't go on without their help. Mari and I got along for the most part, but there were some days we couldn't stand each other." A smile crept on Marco's face as he told Jackie about his sister and their childhood, and Jackie listened to him rarely cutting in to ask questions.

"Wow, she sounds amazing," Jackie said after Marco had finished. "I'd love to meet her someday."

"Well if we can catch Hekapoo you can," Marco remarked.

"Hey, you think maybe there's another meaning behind this?" Jackie mentioned.

"Like what?"

"I don't know," Jackie admitted. "It just seems strange. Why would she create a test that was unpassable? It's all too weird."

The two pondered to themselves on the good point Jackie made, what was the point of an impossible test? And why would it change from participant to participant?

"You ever wonder about life?" Jackie interrupted their silence.

"What do you mean?" Marco asked.

"You know, what's life all about? What's the meaning? Nobody really knows the answer to it, but everyone always has an answer. For me, it's just a big cosmic event to experience. You're born, then you die. But in between that there's this wide-open world, an entire universe even, and it's all for you to experience. You have fun, you cry, you get hurt, you laugh. There's so much to experience, and I want to see it all someday. I want to experience life. So is that what it's all about? Experience?"

"Wow Jackie," Marco said stunned by her answer. "That was really profound. I always thought life was about working. Work to do good, work to make a career, work to have a good life. That's how I got here, I work to be a good student and saw that the school was having an exchange program and I figured I'd give it a shot. So I worked hard and it all paid off, cause here I am."

"That's pretty cool dude," Jackie complimented him. "Whenever anyone says that you have to work hard, they think of a boring old desk job that they hate. But you, you see it differently. You see that hard work pays off and gets rewarded. And in some way, you're right."

"How are you always so relaxed?" Marco couldn't understand Jackie's constant mellow nature.

"I'm not always relaxed Marco," she told him. "I have insecurities and worries the same as everyone else. But living in the ocean for most of my life, I learned that you can't fight the current. You have to let it carry you, and wherever you end up is where you were meant to be."

"What if you end up in shark-infested waters? Or find yourself lost and alone in unfamiliar territory? What if the current never lets you go?" Marco couldn't help but think of the negative aspects of her ideology, it was too chaotic and disorganized for him.

"See? That's your problem, Marco," Jackie laughed. "You overthink everything. You need to calm down, relax a little. Like what we're doing now, we have a limited time to finish this so we should be making use of every second, but here we are, talking about the mysteries of the universe instead."

"Yeah, you're right," Marco check his compact. "We have seventeen hours left. But I haven't a clue as to how we're going to catch her."

The laid there, in silence trying to think of a new strategy that may help, but with their teacher's abilities, everything seemed too easily countered. Seconds stretched to minutes, and minutes felt like hours to Marco, stressing him out further as he recognized that every minute was precious that he was letting slip by him.

"I might have an idea!" Jackie blurted excitedly as she sprang up. Marco wasn't too sure he liked hearing that since her last plan no longer allowed Marco to retake Hekapoo's test. But he had nothing.

"What is it?" Marco sat up, facing her.

"It's kind of a longshot, and might be dangerous, but I think we can pull it off." She explained her plan to him, and admittedly, it was good. Dangerous, but good. But it needed more planning to better pull off the execution. More strategizing and tweaking.

"It sounds good Jackie, but do you really think this will work?" Marco asked after finalizing their plan. "What if she doesn't take the bait? Or something goes wrong?"

"She'll take it all right, trust me. And to make sure nothing goes wrong we'll practise until we get it right. Or if the deadline closes in too closely. The most important part is that we have to avoid Hekapoo, we can't let her see us. Now let's go." Jackie grabbed Marco and they rushed off, getting everything prepared for their grand trap.

After several hours of practice, Marco found Hekapoo. It was late into the night, still dark with that whisper of dawn just about approaching the horizon; she could be seen twirling scissors and whistling, just passing the time.

"Haven't seen you in a while, have you come to give up?" She asked the boy who's figure could dimly be seen. "And where's miss Thomas? Certainly not creeping in the shadows to get the jump on me? You know that won't work, right?"

"I figured it out," Marco said confidentially.

"Figured what out?" Hekapoo inquired to his ominous words.

"It's all a game to you."

Hekapoo's one eyebrow that could be seen lifted up quizzically. "Yeah, that's the point of tag. It's a game."

"No, no, that's not what I mean. I mean that this test is a game to you. You love watching people squirm and struggle, and you hate seeing them give up so you constantly add a bit of chaos into the mix while taunting us on. You want this to keep going on for as long as you can and then stand triumphantly as we run out of time, struggling in vain. But I've figured out how to beat you, an answer so simple even you couldn't see coming!"

"Right," Hekapoo scoffed in disbelief. "You figured a way to beat my test in a way that I couldn't see coming. Kid, I designed this game, I set the rules, I determine how you pass and how you fail; **when** you fail. What method have you figured out exactly?"

Hekapoo could see the outline of a confident grin, something that held a secret and was eager to tell, but never reveal.

Marco darted into a side alley, running away from Hekapoo. The deviless was a mixture of confusion and skepticism, this was clearly a ploy, they obviously had some kind of trick up their sleeve and it was never going to work. But inspired by both her confidence and curiosity, Hekapoo followed, willingly stepping into their trap.

She kept far behind, always seeing the red hoody of Marco's just vanish behind a building or out of sight. It's not like she was struggling to catch up, she just enjoyed stringing them along to their own tune.

The trail eventually led to one of the tower spires connected to the school building, she spied Marco climbing up the ladder to the top. The lock that barred unauthorized personnel, like students, from climbing was opened. Hekapoo followed with a single swift jump straight to the top, growing more curious as to what was happening and how Marco was able to pick a lock.

She looked around the landing but didn't see a soul. Obviously, since there were plenty of places to hide behind. Hekapoo grew irritated and tired of this _game_ of theirs but continued to humour them. Not seeing a better option, she walked across the rampart that connected to the second tower on the other side. It was about five meters wide, passing the carved-out parapets on both sides.

"Okay, I'm bored now," Hekapoo complained loudly as she made it halfway. "Just come out, I know one of you is hiding behind me while the other is on the other side. Your plan is to make sure I'm right where I am while you two pincer me. Just show yourselves already."

Just as she predicted, Marco came out of hiding at the other end of the rampart, and behind her… was Marco? How could he be in two places at once? Well, it's not like a second Marcos was going to make a difference. They still had no chance of winning.

The two Marcos ran at Hekapoo at full sprint, the teacher seemingly unfazed by their action. She waited until they got to her, each of their hands outstretched to reach her. Just as they were within distance, she did a backflip over one of the Marcos and the two crashed into one another.

"Come on dummy, a trick like this isn't going to work," she addressed the two Marcos knowing one of them had to be the real one. "Just give up."

The Marcos refused to listen and charged her. She figured she would at least humour this trick, Hekapoo didn't run away but rather, stood her ground. The Marcos lashed out at her, working in unison to try and touch her, even just a little. Their teamwork was incredible, one would try blocking her view and the other would attempt to tag her from a blind spot, but she either kept dodging or slapping their arms away and gave them more burning slap marks on the back of their heads.

She slightly enjoyed it. Marco was right, to her, this was a game, something she could enjoy knowing she would dominate. She was so good she even knew of the sneak attack of the third person coming from behind her. She jumped toward the ground to tuck-and-roll and used her hands as a springboard to jump over the two Marcos in front of her, now making three Marcos with the added party member.

She was confused, how was he duplicating himself? Just as she was thinking of the possibilities, more Marcos appeared around her, popping out of the dark from both sides of the ramparts and climbing over the walls, soon a small army of boys with red hooded jackets surrounded her. A sensible person with Hekapoo's abilities would teleport out of there immediately, but she was growing more intrigued.

She stood her ground, constantly dodging, jumping, and all-around avoiding Marcos' grasps. But it seemed strange to her, though the Marcos moved smoothly, they seemed robotic, and never once said anything even when Hekapoo teased them.

Just as the sun began to rise to give more light, she noticed something out of place and realized what was happening. None of the Marcos cast a shadow!

"They're illusions," she proclaimed as a smug grin crept across her face. The closest Marcos lunged at her, only to pass right through, cementing her claim. The only reason why they seemed and felt real to her before was that she thought they were real, now having peeled back the veil, they were as formless as air.

All the Marcos disappeared into a puff of smoke and Janna stood in the open. Her arms crossed and in one of her hands was the nameplate from Hekapoo's desk and a strand of hair tied around it. Most likely Marco's hair.

"Well, figured it out huh?" Janna was either unimpressed or disappointed.

"Hello miss Ordonia, where might Mr. Diaz be?" Hekapoo was proud of herself, not just for figuring out the trick, but just because she was still as perceptive as ever.

"I dunno, they only told me to keep you distracted long enough." The witch girl answered.

"Distract me from what?"

"That." Janna pointed behind Hekapoo who swiftly turned around, she never sensed anything behind her so how could they have snuck up? The answer: they didn't. Nothing was behind Hekapoo.

"Oh sorry," Janna called back and pointed upward. "I think I meant that."

Hekapoo looked up to see a red figure barreling towards her.

Marco huffed as he landed, hoping he didn't hurt his teacher. He definitely crashed into something, but he was too nervous to open his eyes to check if it was really Hekapoo he fell onto. But he was grabbing something, something soft.

"Did we get her?" Star asked as she floated down beside Janna.

"Nice aim Star," Jackie complimented who appeared from a hiding spot. "Looks like all that practice paid off and the plan worked."

Marco tensed up a little, causing his grip to be just a bit firmer, but then there was a stifled moan underneath him. He opened his eyes to see his results and wonder what that noise was. As luck would have it, the did plan work, Marco landed and was holding Hekapoo. More precisely, he had a handful of her breasts. They were big and soft, his hands sunk into them.

Hekapoo stared at her compromised chest blushing with a mixed look of surprise and humiliation. Marco screamed in fear and embarrassment and jumped off of her, falling on his butt.

"Hekapoo, I'm so sorry," he stammered through his words trying to defend himself. "I didn't mean to grope you! I just landed there when I fell! Please don't kill me!"

Hekapoo didn't respond, she didn't do much of anything, just laid there with that same look on her face. Then she disappeared into a puff of smoke just like the army of Marcos did. Now Marco and his friends were the ones confused as they approached him to inspect the scene.

They heard laughing behind them, and laying on the wall with her head propped on her right hand was their teacher.

"I have to admit, that was a good plan," she complimented the trio. "So let's see if I can piece this together: you got Ordonia to make an illusion spell that would make me see a gang of Diazs by using my nameplate and Diaz's hair. I assume she was also the one to pick the lock to the ladder access, which could explain how you took my nameplate to begin with? But those clones were all a distraction to keep me on my toes, and once I realized they were fakes it broke the spell. All the while, Butterfly there had the real Marco in the sky and ready to drop him on top of me when my concentration was at its peak and I wouldn't sense what you kids were really planning. Kudos all around, I mean it."

"But… but I caught you. I passed the test, didn't I?" Marco asked a bit stunned.

"Sorry, I said it was a good plan, but not a successful plan." A second Hekapoo appeared mirroring the other one addressing them.

"You're not the only one to duplicate themselves." The new Hekapoo said.

"I figured you had a plan," the original Hekapoo said as the other one disappeared just like the one Marco fell on. "So before coming up here I sent a clone of myself upwards to see what you were attempting. And it was a good thing I did. You may have actually had me. But unfortunately for you, you'll never pass my test."

The four students looked speechless as the sun rose higher up behind them. So much hard work and planning, so much preparation and practice, all for nothing.

"Well, that's it," Marco said defeated. "It is impossible. There's no beating her."

"Aw, don't look so glum," Hekapoo mocked the boy as the hourglass appeared, most of the sand had fallen to the bottom. "You still have about nine more hours to catch me."

"There's no point in it," Marco wasn't depressed, but calm as he stood up, disappointed with the results. They were so close, everything went off perfectly, only to discover they were still at square one. "I give up."

"Eh, not like failure was any other outcome," Hekapoo said callously as she hopped off the wall.

"Hey, you don't have to act so conceited!" Jackie called to her offended. "In fact, I'm still willing to carry on."

"You're willing to take up the challenge now?" Hekapoo asked bewildered. "You just saw how his trial went. Yours won't be the same, but it will have the same outcome. Knowing that, you want to try?"

"No, I don't." Jackie crouched low into a sprinter's stance with a resolute look. "I'm willing to continue with his trial."

"It's his trial," Hekapoo reminded her. "He just said he quit. His trial is over."

"But despite your constant rejection, I was the one to get you to agree to allowing him to take your test in the first place, under the conditions I set! Surely I have some claim to finishing the test for him."

"Jackie, no," Marco said firmly. "It's fine, you don't have to do this. You're just going to waste your time like we have been since this began."

"Fair enough. Okay, I'll let you sub in for him," Hekapoo agreed. At her word, Jackie sprinted at the demon-like woman at full tilt. Hekapoo easily evaded with her high-speed, dodging Jackie at the last moment she would allow.

Jackie lunged consistently at Hekapoo, giving everything she had. Her adversary, on the other hand, looked bored. Hekapoo opened a portal and jumped through it and appeared at the tower where the ladder was.

"Face it, kid," Hekapoo called from the roof. "Diaz is right, it's pointless."

Jackie grew frustrated and angry and looked at the portal that Hekapoo went through, still open. "We'll see."

Jackie jumped through the still opened portal and appeared where Hekapoo landed, who was already gone and through another portal. Even with the sudden shift in geography, with Jackie's excellent training she easily made a solid landing on the slanted roof and jumped through the new portal.

Marco, Star and Janna were left alone, the two women somewhere having a chase throughout the campus grounds. Every few seconds a new portal would appear near them and see Hekapoo jump out of one and into a new one with Jackie seconds behind her. The trio couldn't move, curious as what was happening, but it had an ending already written.

Soon portals were scattered all around them and as far as they could see in every direction. Another one appeared on the parapet, they spied Hekapoo skip off the wall and jump into another portal all within a second. Soon Jackie shot out of the same portal, still on Hekapoo's trail. But she was winded and lost her balance as she landed on the wall.

"Jackie!" Marco cried. He sprang into action as he saw her fall over the edge and caught her in the nick of time. Jackie looked down, scared out of her mind had she made the trip down. It wasn't a fall that would kill her, but she would most certainly be hospitalized in critical condition if she plummeted. She was terrified.

Marco dangled over the ledge, holding her arm and straining to lift her up. The weight difference was too great and he ended losing his footing, they screamed as the two were dragged over the edge.

They stopped abruptly before Marco went over entirely, he could feel hands wrapped around his legs and the two were being pulled up. Janna and Star pulled them up and then they all helped Jackie up safely back on level ground.

Everyone collapsed, catching her breath.

"Okay," Marco said in between puffs. "Jackie, it's over. Would you please stop now?"

"Marco, I can't," she answered him, tear almost forming in her eyes. "I know how important this is to you. How badly you want these scissors to be able to see your family again. I know how much you miss them. And because of me, you won't get a second chance at this. It was an impulsive idea of mine to get her to agree to allow you to take this test. It's my responsibility to get them for you!"

"Hey, it's okay," Marco said compassionately as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, these are important and I do miss seeing my family. But it's not like I'll never see them again. I talk to them regularly so I'm always connected. You've done enough for me as is. Thank you."

"But you'll never get to take the test again!"

"Well, if that's how it is, then I should just go with the flow, you know? There's no point in stressing over every detail." He gave her a shrug and a comforting smile, telling her it was all okay. Jackie returned his smile in kind.

"So I suppose that everyone is out now?" Hekapoo had appeared behind them and all the portals left opened disappeared. "Good, now you kids run along, you still have class in less than two hours and I expect you all to attend. No exceptions!"

Each of the students groaned, getting ready for the day ahead. It had been a long night for them, especially for Marco and Jackie who have been running around for hours since yesterday. None of them were excited about what the day had in store.

The next day Marco was still tired, he tried going to bed early the night before but he somehow lost more sleep than he tried gaining. Jackie was no different, she looked about ready to collapse at any moment.

"Diaz, Thomas, hang back for a second!" Hekapoo halted the two as they tried to shuffle out her class.

The two did as she instructed and waited patiently until the class was completely empty. Hekapoo opened a drawer and pulled out a black box.

"Two days ago you attempted my test to determine whether you are worthy enough to own a pair of dimensional scissors." She announced in an authoritative tone as she held the box in both hands facing the two sleep-starved students. "The day resulted with you two creating a trap by breaking into a faculty's office and stealing her personal effects, endangering the safety and health of yourselves, and groping a teacher inappropriately." Marco averted his eyes and blushed at the last comment, wishing not to recall that part.

Hekapoo opened the box to reveal scissors with a blue-ish grey handle and a fireball-like symbol at the center. His name was etched in the gold-tinted blades.

"Marco Diaz, due to your tenacity, determination, ingenuity, and judgement. I, Hekapoo, faculty of Mewni High and member of the Magical Highschool Commission, charged with monitoring and enforcing rules of dimensional travel, have deemed you worthy of owning your own dimensional scissors to use at your own discretion." She handed the box to Marco, who took it pensively. "Congratulations, you passed."

"I don't understand," Marco said baffled. "I didn't pass. I gave up and failed the test."

"Marco, the test is unbeatable. It's designed that way." Hekapoo clarified. "No one has passed because they can't, but there's no point in making an unpassable test. The true test is to determine the characteristic of the examinee, to see how they would react in certain conditions, what they value, and how they react when they face an unclimbable wall. Like miss Thomas here, you had friends willing to go to lengths for you. Your ingenuity for planning in such a short time tells me you have a level head. And though you were in misery, you accepted failure with grace. Marco, you've earned those."

Marco held his scissors, that's right, they were **his** scissors. They felt… heavy. Not like they weighed too much, but as though he could feel the burden of responsibility and honour in holding them.

"How do they work?" He asked.

"You've become one of my top students, you'll be able to figure it out," Hekapoo said vaguely with confidence. There are a lot of factors when jumping between dimensions. The more familiar a place was for him, the easier it could be accessible, so getting home would be easy, but anywhere else would take time.

"So, you going to take those for a spin?" Jackie asked enthusiastically.

"I'm just not sure where to go." He admitted.

"Thought you wanted to see your family, so why don't you go home and say hi?"

"Well yeah, but it's not like I want to run to them immediately. I just got handed the ability to go anywhere in the universe. The possibilities are endless, but I need to be careful with what I choose, and I wouldn't know where to go first." Jackie took the scissors from his hand and swiped the blades through the air, she handed them back to him as a portal appeared. "Well, I have an idea. If that's okay with you?"

"Uh, sure!" Jackie led the way by hopping through first. Marco was about to follow her, excited to see a new dimension but was stopped by Hekapoo.

"By the way Marco, I'm curious, what did you think of them?"

"Well, they're great. Thank you so much for the scissors." He replied admiring the work.

"I wasn't talking about the scissors," Hekapoo cupped her breasts and rocked them a little with a cheeky grin. "Truth be told, I like a man with a strong grip."

Marco was too nervous to speak, he stood there stiffly recalling the poor incident.

"Sorry kid," Hekapoo laughed, seeing his reaction. "But you're too young and far too scrawny for my liking. Now get out and take that baby for a test drive."

He left without a word and the portal closed behind him, leaving Hekapoo to herself. "A few more years and a couple more pounds of muscle, yeah, I think I'd be all over that."

Marco watched as Jackie dove in and out of the water, literally being in her element.

"You sure you don't want to join me?" she asked as she walked onto the small beach island. "The water's great."

"I'm okay," he sat uncertainly, watching as her body slowly remerged wearing nothing but blue underwear with lime-green linings. Her underwear was more like a swimsuit really. Her body shimmered in the reflection of the sunlight and sat down beside Marco, her clothing scattered beside him.

"So, this is your world?" Marco asked. "Wouldn't you want to see your family?"

"I would, but it's not that simple," Jackie sat on her knees and pulled Marco down, laying his head on her lap. "They're kind of nomadic. They don't stay in one place for long but always find themselves back to somewhere familiar. They could be at a number of different locations right now. And I didn't bring us here so I could see them. "

"Jackie, what are you doing?" Marco was confused about what she was doing.

"Giving you a chance to catch some zzz's." She answered as she stroked his head.

"We could just as easily go home and I could crash on my bed." He pointed out.

"Marco, when a girl offers you her lap as a pillow, it's best you shut up and take the opportunity. Now close your eyes and relax." Admittedly, it was a nice feeling, kind of damp but that just made her legs feel cool.

"What about you? Aren't you tired?" He asked giving in as his eyes grew heavy.

"I'll sleep later, right now, you deserve this. You worked hard." She started humming a soft tune to help lul him to sleep. It didn't take long to fall asleep with sweet dreams.

Jackie admired his peaceful face as he slept and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "But you'd better repay me someday."

**There! I did it! I tell ya, I hated writing this. **

**You guys have no idea how long it took for me to write that climax. Every time I thought of a new idea it contradicted with another one and threw the whole story off. There was so much revision and re-writing that I just became discouraged to even write some days, but I finally got something with semblance pieced together and couldn't be happier to have finished it. May have gotten a little sloppy with the ending though, like I said, discouraged to write.**

**Also, for those who didn't know, on August 3 was the official Star vs. AMA held by Daron, Adam, Dominic, and Aaron, and Daron confirmed Toffee to be a historian. So, point for me for making Toffee a history teacher.**

**Anyway, hopefully next chapter will be out sooner than this one took me to write.**


	9. You Came to the Wong House

"Why am I doing this again?" Marco asked as he stroked Kelly's head as she leaned towards him.

"Because it relaxes me," she answered blissfully. It was clear Kelly was enjoying the attention due to her tail wagging with glee like a dog. Usually, her tail is tucked under her humongous pile of hair so Marco was surprised to see it when it started moving around.

"Okay, but why am **I** doing this?" He asked again to better clarify. "And why do you need to be relaxed?"

"Because we have a cornball game tonight!" Meteora answered slamming a box next to them filled with shirts.

"What's cornball?" Marco jumped in surprise.

"Only the greatest game in all existence!" Kelly proclaimed in excitement as she riffled through the box and pulled out a shirt. It had a corn cob on it with the MH of the school's logo in the background. She passed one to Marco and Meteora. "I am so excited!"

"See, this is why you needed to calm her down," Meteora remarks, noting Kelly's enthusiasm. "The game starts in a few hours. You ready?"

"Oh, I'm ready!" Kelly screams, clearly, Marco didn't do a good enough job of relaxing her.

"Okay so, wait, what's going on?" Marco asked confused looking at his shirt. "I get that there's a game and all but, what is cornball? And who are we going against?"

"Tonight, our team's going against Saint Olga's All Girls' School," Meteora said. "They're not a great team, but defiantly a challenging one. And if the Millhorses beat the Mombots, Mewni High's going to nationals!" Kelly and Meteora screamed in exhilaration together.

"You two are really into this," Marco remarked feeling a little nervous around their borderline rowdy behaviour. "This really means that much to you?"

"Marco, this is cornball we're talking about, it doesn't get better than this!" Kelly said sternly expecting him to just understand. "So, Meteora, what's the plan?"

"Okay, I already contacted the girls, they're all in. Star and Tammy said they'd get us seats, Jackie's bringing drinks, I've made our shirts and Janna's said she could make us some hats. Now all that's left is snacks."

"Well if it's snacks you need, I actually make some legendary nachos," Marco said proudly. "But I don't have an oven to cook them in."

"I'm sure Star's mom would agree to help us," Kelly mentioned. "Okay, Marco and I will make more snacks and we'll meet you later at the game."

"Gotcha." Meteora agreed as the two prepared for their task.

"Okay, what are we looking for to make your nachos?" Kelly asked at the grocery store.

"Chips and cheese, lots of cheese," Marco answered.

"Wait, that's it? Really?" Kelly was underwhelmed by the simple ingredients of the so-called 'legendary' nachos.

"Trust me, Kelly, these are going to be amazing." He said confidently. "I'll look for the ingredients and you get containers we could divvy them into." The two split up to accomplish their mission; Marco easily found a large bag of mix cheese.

"Excuse me," he asked a monster staff. "Where are your chips?"

"Isle 4." The large-mouthed employee spat out.

"Thanks," Marco said flatly with bits of saliva dripping off him.

"Nachos, nachos, nachos." He mumbled to himself looking at all the types of bagged chips. Corn chips, spicy corn chips, all dressed corn chips, buttered corn chips. "No nachos?"

"Hey, I got the containers," Kelly found him, holding a bunch of stacked containers.

"Great, but I can't find the right type of chips," he said unnerved.

"Well, why not use a substitute?" Kelly suggested grabbing a bag of Volcano Hot Corn Chips.

"No way," Marco slapped the bag out of Kelly's hand and it fell to the ground. "There are absolutely no substitutes! We need nacho chips or they won't be nachos! And I will tear through the universe to find nacho chips or God as my witness I will have retribution!"

Kelly was kind of concerned about Marco's mental stability from his sudden out lash and dramatic tone.

"Or we could go to your world and grab a bag from there?" She suggested.

"No, yeah, I was just going to hop over to my dimension. It'll be a quick errand." He replied composed again pulling out his scissors.

After paying for the containers and cheese, Marco ripped a hole in space-time that led to his world. The two came out the other side in front of another grocery store.

"Huh, your world smells weird," Kelly commented.

"Welcome to Echo Creek, where the air is toxic and the traffic is constant," Marco said unenthusiastically as he introduced his hometown to Kelly. "Okay, we'll just grab the chips, head back to school, and make the nachos in time for the game. Easy."

Marco grabbed the chips right where he knew they'd be but heard someone calling to him from behind. "Hey, Mango, is that you man?"

"Oskar?" Marco recognized the dropout student he once went to school with, his bangs covering his eyes as always and he had his signature keytar.

"Yeah dude, it's me," the boy replied in his constant chill tone. "How've you been, heard you got kidnapped."

"I wasn't kidnaped Oskar, I got accepted into a private school." He corrected him. Marco didn't know Oskar too well but they had the odd interaction once and a while, and from what Marco could gather, Oskar really wasn't the brightest bulb. He legitimately thought Marco's name was Mango, he didn't just call him that as a nickname. Eventually, Marco gave up trying to correct him and accepted his new name.

"This a friend of yours Marco?" Kelly asked joining into the conversation.

"Not really, he's just a guy I used to go to school with," Marco answered.

"Because you were kidnapped," Oskar repeated, thinking he was contributing.

"No, it's because you dropped out. And as I just told you, I wasn't kidnapped. I just— forget it." Marco knew long ago to let Oskar believe what he wanted, it was easier that way. "Kelly, this is Oskar. Oskar, this Kelly, a friend from the new school I'm attending."

"I like your ears." He complimented, not totally recognizing how inhuman they were. He didn't even think they were props, he just liked them. That was the positive part of Oskar, he never reacted poorly to anything or took notice of what was out of place.

"Thanks, I like your instrument," Kelly returned the compliment.

"Thanks," Oskar took the time to give Kelly a sample of his music. Kelly, Marco, and everyone else in the store covered their ears to the mashing of buttons that went out of tune. He wasn't a bad artist; he was just very tone-deaf and oblivious to it. "So what's new with you?"

"Well I'm attending a new school," Marco answered taking his hands away from his ears. "It's been nice there."

"Cool," the rebel boy answered unfazed. "Oh yeah, meeting you got me thinking of something. I feel like I was going to warn."

"Warn me?" Marco asked perplexed. "Warn me about what?"

"Ugh, of course, you'd be at the center of all that hideous racket Barfo." Marco's heart sank as he heard the snooty voice from behind.

"Oh yeah," Oskar brightened up now remembering what was on his mind. "Brittney Wong's looking for you."

And found him she did. Marco slowly turned around to face the inevitable disaster to follow, no doubtedly followed by much verbal abuse.

In front of Marco was Brittney Wong with her hands on her hips and her trademark sneer and unsatisfied expression that she had to communicate to someone she thought beneath her, which was just about everyone. She took pride in her appearance with her long black hair and pink lipstick, wearing a purple shirt with puffy white sleeves and a dark purple skirt.

"Thanks for the heads-up Oskar," Marco grumbled wishing he had been told sooner. "Hi, Brittney, why have you been looking for me?"

"You'd know if you picked up your phone and stopped ignoring me." She squinted in disapproval. Marco messed up, he had forgotten to make sure Brittney had a way of contacting him. "You're needed. Come on!" She commanded.

"Brittney, please, can't this happen some other time?" Marco begged. "I have things I need to do and I'm on a tight schedule."

"I'm sorry but I don't care," she dismissed his pleas in apathy. "I mean, you can ignore it, but we both know what'll happen if you do."

"Marco, what's she talking about?" Kelly asked concerned.

"A few months back, while I was riding my back, I hit her brand-new car her father got her for her sixteenth birthday and scratched it up." He replied reluctantly. That really did happen, but what also happened is that he went flying over the hood of her sport's car, his tire bent out of shape, and he sprained his wrist as he landed. Brittney didn't care in the slightest about him and threatened to sue him and his family. Terrified at the highly likely aspect that she'd win the lawsuit and he'd have to pay an enormous amount of cash that could put his family in debt for the rest of their lives, he proposed to do pay off his debt by doing anything she wanted.

Brittney agreed at the prospect of gaining a slave to do whatever she wanted but threatened to sue his ass if he didn't follow her orders to a T. At first it was a lot of demanding and menial tasks that slowly chipped away at his debt, and sanity. But as time went on the demands became fewer in between, but they also became far more challenging or embarrassing.

"Okay Brittney, what do you need of me?" He said reluctantly.

"I have a party to attend to tonight, some fancy corporate thing my father is hosting and expects me to attend." She answered." Those things are the worst and most boring events to be at, and I need a date."

"Wait, what?" Marco was surprised by her request. Unless there was something more he needed to do, something embarrassing, this was the most reasonable demand she gave him.

"Don't get your hopes up," she hissed. "I just need someone to keep all of my father's business partners from trying to introduce their sons, nephews or grandsons to me. It's all just some business tactic to get my father to notice them and hopefully take someone under his wing so they could eventually take over the company from him. I need to protect my father's business, and I've met all of them before and I'm disgusted by every interaction I've ever had. I just need you to make it seem like I'm already taken so they'll give up. And if you're able to accomplish that, without embarrassing me, then I'll erase the debt."

"Really?" Marco cried excitedly, then something dawned on him. "Wait, tonight? Like tonight, tonight?"

"What other tonight is there?" She sneered, displeased she needed to clarify something so simple.

"Can't you ask someone else?" Kelly pleaded. "There's a cornball game tonight and we'd really don't want to miss it."

"And who are you?" Brittney asked, legitimately just now taking notice of Kelly's existence. "And despite there being thousands of better guys than Barfo here, he's at least somewhat presentable and actually smart, so he's the least likely to embarrass me. No matter how much it makes my silky smooth skin crawl at the thought of just pretending to be in a relationship with him."

"Okay Brittney, I'll keep the guys off you," Marco said submissively and put the chips back. "Sorry Kelly, looks like I won't be able to make it to the game."

"What no! It's your first cornball game, you have to go!" Kelly complained. "What if I came to the party too?"

"And why would I want a mophead like you at my place?" Brittney asked.

"Because you don't need Marco there the whole night." Kelly indicated. "You just need Marco to make it seem like you're unavailable for any prospective relationship that your father's business partners may try to get you with. Now having Marco pose as your boyfriend is a good idea, but he's not exactly the boldest of guys, I, on the other hand, can be. While Marco's meant acts to dissuade people from you, I'm sure many of them would still attempt it thinking Marco's an easy pushover and keep pestering you, I can act as a deterrent and keep people from approaching you two or remove them from bothering you. And I'm not from around here so you will have no association to me, saving you and your father face. If the two of us combined can accomplish your task, then you won't need Marco around all night, which I'm sure you would think as a blessing, and we could still catch our game. Everybody wins."

Brittney rested her chin under the back of her hand, honestly considering Kelly's proposal.

"Okay," she agreed. "Be at my mansion at 4 o'clock. Barfo, don't worry about clothes, my butler will have something for you when you arrive. Your friend is on her own."

Brittney arrogantly dismissed herself, happy to be out of sight of being at a local grocery store.

"Wow Kelly, you were actually able to get Brittney to compromise," Marco said impressed. "And we just might be able to catch the game. On top of that, I'll be debt-free from here on after! What time is the game?"

"Around 8:00, we'll have to work fast if we want to make."

"Hey, cool Mango, when did you and Brittney start dating?" Kelly and Marco saw that Oskar had never left.

"Oskar, have you been there the entire time?" Marco asked.

"Not the entire time, just the last few minutes." He admitted. "Well, my breaks over, I need to get back to work." He slung his keytar around his back and put on an apron that signified he worked at the grocery store they were at.

"Is he okay?" Kelly asked apprehensively after he left

"I honestly have no idea. I'm not sure if he's stupid or just oblivious to social queues." Marco admitted.

-00000

"So what's the story behind this 'Barfo' name she keeps calling you?" Kelly asked from the other side of her door as she changed.

"Well, a few years ago on a school trip I had eaten a bad tuna sandwich. The trip was out into the woods and there were no paved roads so it was an extremely bumpy ride. Mix constant shaking with an upset stomach and you can probably figure the rest. Brittney happened to be right across from me when it happened so she got a front-row seat."

"That must have been mortifying. How do I look?" Kelly opened the door to show she ditched the usual striped sweater and shorts for a violet party dress with a sash that matched her hair colour around her stomach and frills along the straps and bottom.

"You… look great." Marco admitted, stunned by her appearance.

"Thanks," Kelly blushed.

"Oh, maybe hide your ears. It'll draw too much attention."

Kelly laid her ears flat, blending into her hair that she kept tied into a ponytail so it wouldn't stick outward too much. Other than the sheer volume, she looked just like any human girl, so long as they didn't notice the slight animalistic features of her nose.

"Well, off into the lion's den," Marco remarked as he made a portal in front of Brittney's estate. There was a massive iron gate that had a golden W on the front and an eight-foot brick wall going around the property. From the other side, the two could see a mansion with windows that lined all along both floors. He pushed the button by the intercom, a loud buzzing signalled someone had arrived.

"Yes?" A voice asked from the intercom.

"Um, I'm Marco Diaz, Brittney told me to come by." He responded. The gate began moving, allowing the visitors access.

"Mr. Diaz and his acquaintance?" A man met them at the front door asking for clarification, he wore a butler's attire.

"Yes, I'm Marco." He answered. The servant opened the door to grant them access inside. It was just as lavish inside as Marco had expected it to be. A crystal chandelier from the ceiling, black and white tile floor that sparkled, everything looked so white like it was brand new.

"Finally, you came," Brittney cried, exaggerating her displeasure as she walked down the stairs. She was already dressed in a sparkling royal blue dress with her left shoulder bare and a slit down the right side her dress. Her makeup changed to purple lipstick and she wore a slightly brighter shade of blue eyeshadow. "You're late."

"You said to be here at 4:00," Marco reminded her.

"That was ten minutes ago," Brittney pointed out, stressing on the small detail. "Ugh, if only it wasn't too late to find an alternative stand-in boyfriend. No matter, Samson, take Marco to get changed. Mophead, you can just sit quietly doing nothing until the party starts."

"I have a name, you know," Kelly said offended.

"And I don't care." With a flick of her hair, Brittney dismissed herself to the main room where the party would be to check on how things were going.

"This way sir," the butler directed Marco.

"I'll see you later, I guess," Marco said to Kelly as he was being escorted to a changing room where his clothes were already picked out, leaving Kelly all alone with nothing to do.

"I feel like the suit's a bit tight," Marco said trying to allow airflow as he pulled at his collar. The party had started a while ago and the main room was already filled with more people yet to come.

"You look fine," Brittney said in silent irritation holding herself close to Marco with a fake smile on her face.

Marco's wore a blue suit, slightly matching Brittney's dress and a red tie and grey slacks. He was even given a pair of black dress shoes and had his hair combed for him to keep it prim and proper. He felt very nervous in a room filled with businessmen and women he had nothing in common with.

"Brittney, lovely to see you!" A man approached the two with a great smile.

"Hello, Mr. Grants." She greeted cheerfully. Seeing something close to a genuine smile to didn't stem from humiliating someone or getting something she wanted was strange for Marco to see. "How have you been? Have you seen my father yet?"

"I have, he told me all about his fishing trip in Panama."

"Oh, daddy does love telling that story." The two shared a laugh together for idle politeness.

"By the way, Brittney, I wanted to introduce you to my nephew, Curtis." A young man with curly dirty blonde hair was with the man.

"A pleasure to meet you, Curtis," Brittney courteously greeted. "This is my boyfriend, Marco."

"Oh, I didn't know you were in a relationship." Mr. Grants said little shocked. His smile did not fade, in fact, it shifted into something Marco felt threatened by. Like a beast baring its fangs to challenge. "Tell me, Marco, what do your parents do?"

"Well, my dad's an artist and my mom's a poetry teacher at the community college," Marco said tensely. A stifled snicker could be heard from Curtis who clearly thought little of Marco.

"So how'd the two of you meet?" Curtis probed.

"Well, Marco's been tutoring me. He's the smartest boy in school and I just kind of fell for him after seeing how dependable he is." Brittney told them, which wasn't untrue. Technically speaking, she's been getting him to do her homework for the past few months.

"You know, Brittney, I was just recently granted a scholarship for Yale, which I'll be attending next year," Curtis interjected. "Maybe you and I could-"

Whatever Curtis was trying to pull was cut short as a small platter of meat fell on him.

"Oh no," Kelly feigned worry. "I am so sorry, here, let me help you get cleaned up." She grabbed the young man and pulled him away from the others. Turning around and giving a wink and a thumbs up to the two. Marco secretly returned the gesture in kind.

"Well, I was skeptical of your friend," Brittney commented as they two were alone. "But she's actually doing an acceptable job." That was actually one of the sincerest compliments Marco had ever heard from Brittney. And she didn't add an insult to it.

"Hey, Brit." A guy a bit older, maybe twenty, approached them holding a champagne glass. He had a muscular build with bushy brown hair and a square jaw. Marco felt a little intimidated by the guy.

"Anthony!" Brittney threw herself on the guy, wrapping both her arms around him in a hug. She was genuinely happy to see this guy. "You should have told me you were coming."

"It was last-minute that I was coming, and I thought I'd surprise you." He said as they pulled away. "How've you been?"

"Ugh, stuck in another stupid business party that I don't care about, kill me" She admitted, dropping all pretense around Anthony. She noticed that his eyes had spotted Marco.

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's just a stand-in boyfriend to keep all the creeps away from me." She dismissed him.

"How do you do? I'm Anthony Howeter." The guy greeted Marco extending his arm out.

"Marco Diaz," he shook the guy's hand and a thought crossed his mind. "Wait, Howeter? As in Howeter Pharmaceuticals?"

"The one and the same, my father's the founder and CEO," he confirmed. Howeter Pharmaceuticals was the largest medical distributors in the western hemisphere, so it was clear to say that they were exceptionally reputable with a multibillion-dollar company, annual profit-free charities, and the number one partner for relief responders. "So, how'd Brit tangle you into this?"

"Hit her car, threatened to sue, now I'm her whipping boy." He said bluntly.

"That would about do it." Anthony laughed at his tragic predicament.

"Barfo, I'm thirsty, get me a drink." Brittney snapped. He did as commanded and excused himself from the two, meeting Kelly along the way with a cup of punch in her hand, looking about ready to 'accidentally' bump into Anthony.

"No," Marco stopped her and turned her around. "That one's off-limits it seems. He and Brittney are on good terms.

"So how's it going being her trophy boyfriend?" Kelly asked at the drink table.

"Nerve-racking." Marco poured a drink for himself and gulped it down, sweating profusely. "I'm afraid I'm going to slip up and embarrass her, I can't screw this up and I can't calm down!"

"That's why I'm here," she confessed. "We still have plenty of time to catch the game. I'm sure we just have a few more people to get through, Brittney's doing a great job making people think she likes you and I'm keeping everyone off her. Soon enough she'll be happy to make an excuse so we can ditch this place."

"Yeah, we got this. I just have to hold it together." Marco brightened up at that prospect.

"Now excuse me as I go dig into more of those tiny hotdogs on a stick." She licked her lips in anticipation and made her way for the hors d'oeuvres.

Marco poured himself another glass and set it down on the table, grabbing another and pouring that for Brittney when a man came up beside him.

"I do hate these parties," he said. "But they are a necessity."

The man in question was a bold Chinese man holding a red wine glass, he had wisps of grey hair and wore a highly expensive suit with shiny pointed dress shows. He had a kind smile and gave an authoritative and imposing presence, but also a relaxing one that wasn't intimidating.

"How do you do? I am Zhao Wong, host of this party." He kindly extended a hand to Marco.

"Mr. Wong!" He blurted out. This was Brittney's father! The most powerful man in Echo Creek who frequently rubbed elbows with billionaires and senators. And Marco was just an average boy who went to school with his daughter; or did go since he now went to Mewni High. A boy who was 'dating' his daughter. "HI! I'm Marco Diaz. I, uh… well, I'm kind of… Brittney and I are… we-"

"No need to be so nervous Marco," he said calmly with a wink as Marco shook his hand tensely, his hands were clammy. "I'm well aware that your and Brittney's relationship is a sham. Just one of her ploys to keep the other boys away from her. And I understand your friend who's been a bit of a disturbance is aiding the two of you."

Kelly was stuffing her face with a bunch of different food, Marco felt embarrassed and scared at what Mr. Wong's thoughts were. "I'm so sorry about her sir, she's just trying to help, she doesn't mean to ruin your party!"

"It's quite all right Marco," he laughed. "Actually, I rather enjoy the bit of mischief. Maybe at my next party, I'll intentionally hire a few party crashers to make the scene more interesting."

Brittney's dad was nothing like Marco expected. He thought of a terrifyingly strict man who was constantly in control of every situation with an imposing figure and was more of the cold and calculating types of person. This man was actually quite friendly and reassuring.

"So, how is it that you know my daughter?"

"We went to the same school, sir."

"Well, I must thank you for coming. If she chose you to come there must be something reassuring about you. I know my daughter can be a real handful and demanding, partly my fault for spoiling her as a child, but she does have a good sense of character and can give the impression of leadership." Mr. Wong was understating Brittney's demanding nature, but he wasn't wrong about the other facts. Brittney was the queen of school for a reason, and not just because she was rich, but because she actually had ambition and a drive for accomplishment. The people she surrounded herself with may be flocks of sheep, but they are all accomplished in one way or another; not to mention she's been putting on an act and charming people all night. These were things Marco never noticed before and only saw the shallow and superficial bratty teen, maybe there was more to Brittney Wong than what most people saw from her.

"Well, I must get back to talking about boring things to boring people again. Enjoy the rest of your evening Marco." The man bid Marco adieu and joined a small group of high-class men who greeted him with smiles and laughter. Marco figured he'd best get back to his own place at Brittney's side to make no sure one was trying to talk to her that she didn't want.

"About time," she swiped one of the drinks from Marco's hand and drank it, proceeding to ignore him and kept talking to Anthony. Marco thought it was best to keep his mouth shut and not tell her that was actually the one he had already drunk from. And there was some guilty pleasure of holding the knowledge that the petty girl was really drinking his backwash.

The rest of the night continued as it had been going, people would talk to Brittney and ignore Marco, Brittney would pretend they were a couple, Kelly would keep any boys away, and Marco would stand there trying to look his best.

At some point Marco was all alone and started to grow antsy, it was almost time for the game to start back in Mewni and wanted to find Brittney to see if she was satisfied enough to let them leave.

"Hey Kelly," she was found talking to a group of other girls. "Have you seen Brittney around? I think she needed to visit the bathroom but she's been gone for a while."

"Brittney?" One of the girls inquired. "I saw her being helped upstairs by Anthony Howeter just a minute ago, apparently she wasn't feeling well."

"Really? She's been fine all night." Marco didn't notice anything wrong with Brittney before. Had she been hiding it all this time?

"They probably just made that excuse to be alone," another girl snickered. "Those two have known each other for years, I bet they're in Brittney's room now, and rest is probably the last thing they're doing." All the girls giggled at the idea of the kind of _sleep_ those two were getting.

"Aren't you supposed to be Brittney's boyfriend?" The third girl asked. "Sorry but I think this is the end of the rails for you, but you know, I think you're kind of cute."

"Thanks, but I think I'll just double-check on Brittney to make sure she's really okay or not." He evaded the girl's flirty advances and heard them giggling as he headed towards the stairs.

He had no idea which room could be Brittney's, or even what room they could have gone to. Marco wasn't a snoop, if Brittney and Anthony slipped out to have quality time together than that was their business, but Marco just had to make sure everything was okay. He couldn't shake this bad feeling he felt in his guts. He checked one room after until he came to one that was ajar with light coming from the other side. He peeked inside to see Anthony not wearing a shirt, he was hunched over on a bed making light smacking noises, and what looked like Brittney under him.

Marco felt embarrassed for spying on them in their time of intimacy, but glad that everything looked okay. He was about to excuse himself as silently as he arrived, but he caught something. Brittney was being rather submissive. She wasn't moving, not making any noises of pleasure, not acting in her usual demanding way. In fact, she seemed unresponsive.

It was when Anthony pulled himself off Brittney did Marco see that her eyes were closed and face relaxed; she wasn't submissive, she was unconscious! He stood behind the door, appalled by Anthony's conduct, but realized that he had to do something when he saw Anthony's hands going up Brittney's dress.

Antony froze in fear when the door slowly swung open, the creaking hinges alerting him to someone's presence. But his fear disappeared when he saw who it was.

"You didn't see anything," he said in a hostile tone. "Go back down to the party, and if anyone asks, you have no idea where either of us are."

"Are you crazy?" Marco retaliated, anger slowly growing inside him. "You expect me to just leave and keep my mouth shut, pretend I didn't see this, and just continue on as if everything's fine?"

Anthony climbed off the bed to face Marco directly. "I like making things simple, so how about I reward you. How much to buy your silence? $3,000? $5,000? What about ten-grand? Money is no object to me so I'm willing to pay whatever your price is to keep quiet. But if you're one of the ones who can't name a price and tries to tell someone, or you think of taking the money and still talking, just remember who I am. Do you know what I could do to you if you talk? Do you have any idea the kind of connections my father has or can make? Do you know how well bribery and blackmail can go in the justice system? If you so much as make a peep about this, your life is over! You would go to jail, your family would disown you, everyone you know just turns their back. And you know why that would happen? Because the truth is whatever the fuck I want it to be! Now get out!"

Anthony climbed back on the bed and started getting handsy with Brittney again, believing he got the message clear as he pulled at her dress.

"Hey, Howeter!" He looked up to see four knuckles move rapid towards him, and a sharp thwack forced him over the bed. "If you think I'm the kind who'll choose between the carrot or stick, you got another thing coming!"

Anthony picked himself off the ground, rubbing the part of his jaw that Marco hit and paced around the bed, Marco put himself between him and Brittney in a guarded stance. "If that's how you want to play it, okay."

Anthony charged at Marco, having the height and strength advantage he went for a tackle. But Marco had trained diligently in karate for the past ten years and put everything he knew to good use. He had never been in an actual fight before, let alone fighting a person much bigger and stronger than him, but facing him was easy. Facing Kelly in a light sparring match in their Combat class was easier than this. Marco saw every punch Anthony threw at him, each one was sloppy and wide, he'd clearly never trained in any kind of combat before.

Marco kept dodging and countering whatever Anthony tried, it was working well and Marco was landing solid hits, but it was never enough to put Anthony down. Not only that but Marco was growing exhausted, between a sparring match and an actual fight, this was far more challenging. He had an opponent who was actually trying to hurt him out of malice, this is what an actual fight was.

And just like that, Anthony grabbed Marco's jacket and pulled him forward into a fist, hitting Marco hard in the face, disorientating the boy. Next thing Marco knew he was thrown to the ground, practically knocking the wind out of him as his back landed square. Before he could get up Anthony had mounted him, his entire weight upon Marco's chest and pinning his arms.

"There," he said tiredly. "Now I've caught you, and I'm going to thoroughly enjoy what comes next and everyone's going to thank me for it. After all, after I caught what you did to Brittney after you drugged her, heh, I'm going to be a god damn hero."

His fist reeled back, aiming right at Marco's face again. Marco struggled with all his might to break free but stopped when a truck slammed into him, snapping his head sideways. It hurt like hell, but he had no time to process what happened as another came from the opposite direction, and then a third.

Marco could taste blood, his face felt hot, it was hard to breathe. Time seemed to slow down, and through barely open eyes he could see the sadistic smile of Anthony, ready to pound Marco in again. How many times was that now? But Anthony suddenly disappeared from view and it became easier to breathe, he could faintly hear someone calling his name, it was like an echo.

"Marco!" Another strike to the face, but this time it stung just on the surface, it wasn't a fist but an open hand. He was slapped to his senses.

"Kelly?" He was dazed but recognized her. She had a frightened expression, no doubt after seeing Marco's state.

"Oh my god!" She held him up in her arms. "Are you okay? What the hell did you do to him!?" She screamed at the assailant as he got up from Kelly's body check.

"How many of you are there?" Anthony said, now extremely pissed with a second person's interference. "I'm going to fucking kill you kids!"

Marco was still shaky, but he was able to process the threat Anthony posed as he rushed at them. He desperately put his foot on Kelly and shoved her away and propelling himself from the spot at the same time, getting them both out of the way of Anthon's charge.

"He drugged Brittney and tried having his way with her!" He cried climbing to his hands and knees. She looked at the unconscious Brittney laying on the bed beside her, she thought she was just asleep before seeing Anthony's violent attacks.

"Oh, you are so going to pay," she sprang towards Anthony, swing her fists at him.

Kelly's punches were angry and strong, he backed away to keep from being hit. Marco, who was still on the ground recovering, noticed that Kelly was keeping the assailant distracted, Marco rolled into him, trapping his legs and tripping Anthony. He kicked Kelly away as she pounced on him and knocked Marco away and got back to his feet.

Kelly helped Marco to his feet, a brief pause between the three as tensions run high. Anthony, in the usual fashion, charged first with Kelly intercepting. She grabbed his arm and twisted into his body ready to throw him over her. Anthony caught on too quick and grabbed her sash wit his free hand and pulled her, Kelly was thrown to a wall and Anthony lost his balance, only to have his face greeted with the bottom of Marco's shoe.

He was revitalized. The need to help Kelly who showed up in time, his anger for almost allowing Brittney to be raped, and the chemicals being pumped in and out of his brain, he caught his second wind. Not to mention the sight of Kelly getting hurt really pissed him off.

"Marco, remember the strategy Brunzetta told us when fighting two-on-one with a person bigger and stronger than us?"

"Repulsion and attraction?" Marco asked. Kelly nodded in conformation. It was a good strategy, but it required total trust between the two people and to be in sync with each other. Trusting each other was easy, and thanks to their constant training and sparring matched the two held, they knew one another's moves blindfolded.

Anthony took a wide swing, Marco used his entire body to block and grabbed his arm while Kelly rushed in and punched him in the face with all her might. Marco let go nad Anthony tried retaliating but Kelly flashed her ears, fangs and claws and snarled at him, the shock left Anthony open for Marco to slip in and deliver a powerful punch to his ribs. Anthony raised his hands into a single fist to bring down onto Marco, but he slid around Anthony and held his pant's waist and shifted all his weight to throw the man off balance as Kelly uppercut him.

The focus of the strategy was for one person to act as a defence, putting the opponent off balance or intercepting an action while the other went on offence to deliver a well-executed attack.

Anthony grew angry and desperate, violently doing what he could to fight the two as he slowly lost himself to rage. On a particularly large backhand, he left himself wide open that Kelly and Marco used as an opportunity to deliver a double knuckle sandwich to his face.

Anthony fell down hard and with blood seeping from his nose and mouth. Kelly and Marco panted as they waited for him to get back up, but he just laid there, he was down. Marco collapsed too, his new strength now quickly vanishing and could barely keep his body from dropping completely.

"Easy Marco," Kelly said as she supported him where he sat. "God, look at what he did to you."

"Is it really that bad?" He asked no longer able to feel the pain, only fatigue.

"It'll clear up in a few days, you'll have swelling, bruising and most certainly a black eye, but nothing serious." She reassured him.

"Hey, how is it that you showed up?" Marco asked realizing her well-timed intervention.

"I… got a little curious myself," she confessed. "Not on what they were doing, but on you. Not that I'm interested in you, I mean I'm not saying I wouldn't be, I just—just, you know, wanted to know if we'd be able to leave and do our thing. Together." Maybe it was the spinning room or shock to his system, but Kelly seemed oddly evasive.

As his head cleared, he lifted himself up, Kelly telling him to take it easy or stay down.

"Kelly, I need to get help. I want you to stay here with Brittney, and in case he wakes up again make sure you tie him up." Marco instructed.

"Hang on," Kelly looked around the room and spotted Anthony's button shirt and grabbed it. She gently blotted Marco's face cleaning his blood a little.

"Ow!" He cried as feeling came back.

"Sorry!" she apologized. "Okay, done. Maybe you won't attract too much attention when you're downstairs."

Marco dragged himself out and rushed as quickly as he could down the hallway and stairs, he never hurt more in his life.

He made it back to the party, keeping his head down and trying to move as naturally as possible to not attract attention as he scanned the room. He finally saw the person he was looking for.

"Mr. Wong," Marco interrupted the pleasant conversation Brittney's father was having with a group of other people.

"Hello, Marco, enjoying yourself I ho—" he cut himself short as he noticed his clothes were dishevelled and the condition his face was in. "My goodness, Marco are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine sir, but you're not going to like what I have to say."

Many minutes later Marco was being attended to by paramedics in a back room, far from the party-goers' eyes as Anthony Howeter, now conscious again, was being led in handcuffs by police. The paramedic said Marco would do fine after bandaging him up and applying ointments on him for the swelling. Mr. Wong stood by him, in silent rage as he watched Anthony be taken away.

"The paramedics said Brittney's just fine. A little doped from something that she had taken but she'll be okay when she wakes up." Mr. Wong said after the authorities had left, leaving him, Marco and Kelly alone. "I cannot tell you two how grateful I am for what you did. Truth be told, this is not the first time Anthony Howeter was caught in a precarious situation, but every time has been classified as false rumours or covered up thanks to his father. But I assure you two, he will not get away with this one, I will have a talk with his father, explain the situation and decide whether or not we should continue doing business together."

Howeter Pharmaceuticals relied heavily on Mr. Wong's business as their number one sponsor, if he pulled his support and what happened this night was revealed, Howeter Pharmaceuticals could lose their biggest investors and billions of dollars.

"Marco… I'm sorry dear, I never caught your name." He addressed the two.

"Just Kelly's fine Mr. Wong." She answered him.

"I am eternally thankful for you two, if you kids hadn't shown up when you did, I could only fear what would have happened. You saved my daughter, ask anything of me and you'll have it. Money, support, even a job, my doors are open to you two."

"I'm okay," Kelly answered immediately. "I'm not from around here so there's actually not much you can offer."

"Your offer's generous sir, but there's nothing that comes to mind for me either," Marco responded honestly.

"Well, be that as it may, my offer will always be on the table for you two." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out two business cards and handed one to each of them. "This has my direct line on it; if there's ever something you'd need, even if you find yourself in trouble, do not hesitate to call. I'll do everything I can to help."

"Thank you, sir," Marco said speechless as he read the card. It said _Wong Enterprise_ with Zhao Wong's name and his position as CEO and contact information.

"At the very least, let me give you a ride home," he insisted.

"That's okay, we have our own way home," Marco said pocketing the card. "Actually, there is one thing you could do for us."

"Of course, anything."

"Can we borrow your oven?" Marco asked as Kelly dug out the nacho chips and bag of cheese from her hair.

-00000

"Okay, we might still be able to make it!" Marco panicked as the two raced out the portal back to Mewni. Marco and Kelly held containers of hot nachos.

"Okay, we may have missed a bit but I'm sure the rest of the game will be—WHAT?" Marco shouted as they arrived at the stadium, dark and empty. "What's going on? Are we at the wrong stadium? We couldn't have missed it could we? It's been less than an hour since it was supposed to start!"

"Yup, that's cornball," Kelly said flatly. "It's a fast game where a winner could be decided in the first ten minutes."

"Who could enjoy a game that only lasts ten minutes?" Marco moaned. "And I made my Super Awesome Nachos for everyone at my first cornball game."

"Well, you still have me to share them with," Kelly said with a light smile. That did make Marco feel a bit better. They made their way to the bleachers and sat down, each taking a container and eating their nachos.

"Wow, Marco! You were right, these are amazing." Kelly complimented as she took her first bite.

"Told you," Marco replied with his mouth full and swallowed. "Hey, thanks for having my back today. And I don't mean just at the end there. You made it a lot easier for me tonight."

"No problem, it's what friends do." She said as she was already halfway done her nachos. "Hey, did you see that one guy with the toupee?"

"Oh yeah, and how it was on all crooked but nobody mentioned it to him," Marco replied laughing at the recollection of the man. "Or what about the woman with the hair ornament that made her look like a peacock?"

"Oh my god, I loved her. And remember that time I 'accidentally' fell on that one guy?"

"Even Brittney loved that one!" The two burst out laughing at the shared memory, constantly recalling the best moments of the night. And all the time Marco never noticed how Kelly's tail wagged merrily.

The next day, Marco sat in his room reading a textbook and writing down important notes from passages. His face hurt more today than it did last night and he had a difficult time explaining to the girls what happened. In the middle of his studying, his compact went off. He had no idea who it was as he didn't recognize the caller i.d.

"Hello?" He asked answering his communicator.

"And why is it so hard contacting you these days?" The voice from the other end demanded to know.

"Brittney? How'd you get this number? Never mind that, how are you? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine Barfo," she responded, going back to his cruel name-calling. "I mean, I'm okay Marco. Thanks to you and your friend that is. My father told me everything after I woke up. Honestly, Marco, I was terrified when he told me and so scared that maybe you were too late. But you weren't. I wasn't… I was just fine. I honestly thought I could trust Anthony…"

Hearing Brittney speak so sincerely, so vulnerable, made her words seem foreign.

"Now, I'm sure my father has already offered you some reward for what you did, but I'm also offering my own services in an extension of releasing you of your debt. So if there's anything you need, speak now!" She instantly switched back to her usual tyrannical tone.

"Thanks, Brittney, but as you said, your father's already offered to give me something. You really don't to do that." He reassured her.

"Don't you dare step on my integrity Diaz! I said anything, so you tell me right now what it is! Do you hear me?" She cried, scaring Marco a bit. He knew she couldn't do anything to him from where he was, but that didn't mean he didn't feel terrified.

"Well, um, I guess I could ask for a…" he figured he'd just ask for something menial or small, just let her be generous for once and get this out of the way. But then something important did come to mind that he could get from her. "Have you stayed in contact with Chantal?"

A brief silence was held between the two, Marco waited in anticipation or fearing what she may say.

"No," Brittney finally replied. "After she left, we lost contact and I moved on with my life, just as I'm sure she did with her's. But if it's that important to you I could find out what she's been up to. I'm sure she'll be easier to track than you've been."

"No!" Marco blurted without thinking. "Uh, no, that's okay Brittney. You don't have to, in fact, forget what I said. If you want to do something for me just, I don't know. Help my sister out socially from time-to-time? Yeah, do that. It would mean a lot to me."

"Marco!" Brittney cried before he could hang up. "I really do appreciate what you did, you even got hurt because of it. But for the record, this does not mean we're friends or anything, understand?"

"Sure thing Brittney," he answered as the line cut out.

Marco leaned back in his chair and exhaled his lungs, why would he ask that of her? He pulled out his smartphone he no longer used from a drawer and turned it on, going to the pictures folder. He flipped through one after another until he came to a particular one.

He took it two summers ago, it had him and Chantal in it, they sat in front of a fountain. Marco's free arm was around Chantal's shoulders, holder her close to him. She was drinking a soda to help cool off, and the two looked happy as Marco took the photo.

He turned his phone off to see his pitiful reflection stare back at him from the black screen.

"Come on man, I thought you moved on." He said to himself.

**I really liked how this chapter turned out. I didn't have much of an idea on what I was going to write when I started, in fact, I got through the first three lines and just drew blanks for two days. Then I looked up ideas and was reminded of cornball and how enthusiastic Kelly was about it so I made that a topic and then that somehow slowly snowballed into what you just read.**

**I know it ended up being longer than what I usually do, but seriously, I think this one was one of my more favourite chapters I wrote. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**Bye.**


	10. The Legend of Princess Turdina (Part 1)

"Okay everyone, you've all been great and we've been able to determine who's playing what role," Ruberiot announced to everyone as he started passing out the scripts. "Remember, you were all great so choosing who made the cut and who didn't was difficult for me and my co-director."

"It was tough for him, I, on the other hand, knew exactly who passed or not. And what he really means is, only some of you were great and the rest flopped so hard we're glad you won't be involved." Foolduke said honestly.

"Hey, we're trying to be supportive here; not trying to discourage them!" He retorted.

"And they won't grow if they can't take criticism."

Ruberiot went back to handing out the scripts. The drama club was hosting a winter play before the vacation started, Marco and the girls heard about it and thought they'd enroll or help out.

Ruberiot passed scripts to Star, Kelly, Meteora, and Marco. Janna, Jackie and Tam were involved with stage set-up rather than acting like the rest.

"Hey, I got the role as Princess Ram," Kelly said looking at her script.

"I'm playing Gemini," Star said proudly. "How about you Marco?"

"I got," Marco looked at his script for the first time and was confused as what it read. "Turdina? What the heck? Hang on a second."

"Hey Ruberiot," he caught the Senior's attention who was talking to his co-director and a mime who was the choreographer.

"Hey, Marco, something the matter?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think you gave me the wrong script. It says here I'm playing the lead role of Turdina."

"No mistake Marco," he confirmed the boy. "When you stepped up on stage, I just saw it! You were born for this role!"

"But it's a girl's role!" He complained.

"Marco, males have been playing female roles for centuries. You have real talent as an actor. Besides, you look just like her come to life." Ruberiot pointed to a poster of the Play. _The Rebel Princess,_ the design had a bold princess wearing a purple dress and a large shadowy figure with green eyes behind her. She really did look a bit like Marco except with long hair in a ponytail, she even had the mole in the same place as him.

"It just, I don't feel comfortable with it," Marco confessed.

"Marco, it'll be just fine. But it's your choice if you really want to or not, and if you don't then that's what stand-bys are for. Just promise me you'll think it over for tomorrow when we start practice, I really think you'll do great." Ruberiot reassured him and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay everyone, rehearsal starts at 4:00 tomorrow. Be sure to read through your scripts tonight. We don't expect you to memorize everything, just try and get a feel of your character and certain lines."

"And remember, there are less than two weeks until the performance. So if you can't get your roles nailed by then you'll be an embarrassment to yourselves and actors everywhere and you should just give up on life." Foolduke reminded them, adding that nasty comment at the end.

"Why do I love you?" Ruberiot asked both her and himself.

"Because I'm the only one who can challenge you." The dark-skinned girl sang cheerily.

The weather outside was cold and snow fell. Everyone bundled up in coats to keep warm and the girls started wearing pants for the cold season.

"So did you get everything cleared up?" Star asked Marco, her breath was visible with every word she spoke.

"Yeah, apparently there was no mistake, he honestly thinks I'm right for the role of Turdina and hopes I'll stick to it."

"Will you?" Everyone was just as curious as Star was.

"Maybe, I'm not too enthusiastic about it," he grumbled.

"Well I hope you do," Janna said as she gave him a spank on the butt. "I'd love seeing that ass in a dress."

"Janna!" Marco cried feeling violated covering his rear as Janna snickered. "By the way, did you say what role you got Meteora?"

"I'm playing the antagonist, Heinous." She announced.

"Wow, both of you got lead roles," Jackie said astonished. "Looks like there's a lot riding on your shoulders."

"Marco, Jackie, Kelly, Tam and I were going to have a group study session after, you two want to join?" Star announced.

"Sorry, I need to prepare if I want to pass my next test," Janna answered.

"Wait, you're actually trying to pass a test?" Marco asked perplex, making effort in school was uncharacteristic of Janna.

"Well it's for my potions class and the assignment is to make a potion that can compel a person into doing something they normally wouldn't. Basically, stripping away their free will. And I'd be a failure of a witch if I didn't know how to do that."

"Well, why don't you study with us then?"

"Because it involves more hands-on experience." She clarified. "A lot of experimenting, so unless someone wants to be my assistant/guinea pig then I won't be hanging with you guys."

"Okay, how about you Meteora?" Star asked her cousin.

"Sorry, I have my own assignment I want to get done." She said coldly as she separated from the group.

"Is it just me or has Meteora seemed more… distant lately?" Marco asked noting her withdrawal.

"It's just Meteora being Meteora," Star assured everyone. "Plus, with the holidays and all, she's probably just a little moody. She'll be fine."

The next day went smooth, nothing out of the ordinary happened. It was just another day at school.

"You okay Meteora?" Marco asked as she didn't respond.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, where were we?" Meteora snapped back to reality looking at her script.

After much deliberation and encouragement from the girls, Marco had decided to stick with the role of Turdina. Meteora and Marco were encouraged to work closely together as they played two of the main leads and opposing forces.

"We're right around the part where you should be monologuing about your evil plans." He mentioned to her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

After losing her and Janna, the group continued with their plan to study together the previous night. But Marco couldn't help but keep thinking about how strange Meteora had been acting recently. She was indeed a little callous at times, especially towards him, but in all the time he's gotten to know her, he's made note of certain quirks she has. The bridge of her nose crinkles a little when she's offended, she rolls her eyes in good fun whenever someone tells a story about her, and she always turns her head to the right whenever she sneezes. If he noticed all these small things, he could tell when something was bothering her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just… I'm…" She trailed off of her own sentence and dropped her arms and slumps her shoulders, exiting the building.

"Hey, Meteora!" Ruberiot called to her. "Where are you going? It's important you be here!"

"I'll go see what's what." Marco insisted quickly following her.

She didn't go far, Marco found her standing outside in the snow with her purple puffy coat, looking at the horizon as the sun was already setting.

"Hey, you okay?" Marco asked delicately as he hugged himself for warmth, forgetting his own coat.

"Marco, are we friends?" She asked.

"Well, yeah. I consider you a friend." He replied truthfully.

"So, if we're friends, you'd help me with something, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah," Marco was growing suspicious. Meteora really wasn't herself right now and it worried Marco, what trouble was she in?

"Okay, then what I'm going to ask you may be a tall order but meet me in the shop class in about ten minutes with your scissors. Can you do that?"

"Meteora, what's going on?" He finally asked, now certain something bothered her. But she didn't reply, she split from him and ran, presumably where she asked him to meet her.

"Hey, Marco, what's going on? What happened to Meteora?" Star asked with Tam as Marco went back inside.

"I'm not entirely sure but something's up." He started packing up his things and put on his coat. "Though whatever it is, it seems important. You guys just stay here, whatever's going on I'll check it out."

"Hey, hey, what do you think you're doing?" The director demanded. "First Meteora runs off and now you? We can't put on a show if our two main leads aren't around for practice."

"Don't worry Ruberiot, I'll be back shortly with Meteora, I just have to double-check something." Marco left before Ruberiot could get a rebuttal.

"You think everything's okay?" Tam asked Star as Ruberiot went on a tangent on how his play was falling apart.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Star answered. But was it Tam she was trying to convince, or herself?

Marco had never been to the workshop wing of the school, it was much larger than the other parts of the building since students worked with large machines and built various things. Marco spotted Meteora through a window in one of the workshops. Inside, she held a blow torch and was soldering something.

"Uh, Meteora?" Marco announced himself.

Meteora stopped what she was doing and lifted her protective gear and turned the equipment off. "Hey, thanks for coming."

"Okay, what's this all about?" Marco asked concerned.

"Marco, I'm about to tell you something I don't tell most people. Not because I'm embarrassed or feel uncomfortable about it, but because I never talk about it. I've never met my father. According to my mom, he died when I was a baby. Now that doesn't really bother me, it's like hearing about someone dying you have no connection to, I never knew my dad so I'm not broken up about it, but I'd be a liar if I said it doesn't bother me deep down. So, I want to go meet him."

"Okay, Meteora, whatever your thinking, it's a bad idea," Marco said alarmed trying to convince her not to do what he thinks she's suggesting. "You have people who love and care about you. You can't just leave them behind just because you want to see one person. You need to really think what you're you're doing is the right call."

"I'm not talking about killing myself, idiot!" She shouted, feeling offended he thought that little of her. "I need your help to get me somewhere." Meteora pulled a book from her backpack and flipped to a page.

"The Plains of Time?" Marco read the page aloud. A dimension separate from the rest of the universe where time flows independently and all of history is recorded. "Why do you want to go there?"

"Because there lies the Wheel of Progress, the very object that is said to push time and is pulled by great beasts with large fangs, ridden by Father Time himself, one of the oldest beings in the universe. If we can get the Wheel for ourselves, I can use it to travel back in time and meet my father, just long enough to get to know him."

"Okay, hang on," Marco cut in. "I can understand wanting to meet your dad, but this seems kind of impossible. You said it yourself, the wheel is ridden by one of the oldest beings in the universe and pulled by great beasts, how do you expect to take it from him? And even if you do, how can you be certain you'll be able to go back in time or be capable of returning to the present? What if you get stuck in time? How can you be certain that it will even work in the first place?"

"Because of this," Meteora pulled a second book. It was very old with a torn leathery cover and most of the colour faded. On the cover read Diary of Skywyne Butterfly.

"Skywyne? Wait, isn't that your ancestor? The one that founded this school and gave up on being a queen?" Marco recalled Star said something like that on his first day, he also learned a bit of it from history class.

"Yeah, I think she's technically my great-grandmother or something, but before becoming the first dean she was known as the Queen of Hours due to her creating a bunch of time-related spells. Being able to stop time, repeat time, push herself forward through time. She started a kind of spellbook/journal that gets passed down to each Butterfly who becomes dean of this school. I've never been allowed to look into it myself, but there are a few notes that the public can access in the library, but despite being able to make so many time spells, there was never anything on being able to go backwards in time."

"Didn't you just say there was a time repeating spell though?"

"Yeah, but it only takes you as far back as twenty-four hours, and you can't do it again until you hit the point of the original cast, and I'm trying to go back years." Meteora grabbed the diary and flipped to a bookmark page. The paper was brittle and dusty with flakes coming off, many pages were torn or fell out and most of the ink had dried and faded. "I found this diary at my mom's place a few weeks ago, in it Skywyne talks of a method to be able to travel through time in large gaps, even backwards. I'll need the wheel as a transport vehicle, but I need something else otherwise I'll never know if I'm going forward or backward in time or how far. Like you said, lost in time."

"So what's this other thing?" Marco asked slowly being pulled into Meteora's plan, hate to admit it was making more and more sense.

"This," Meteora grabbed the thing she was working on. It was a metal box with a screen and wires sticking out with two antennae. "I made it myself, it's a navigational device that will help me track how far in time I go… theoretically."

"Theoretically?" Marco blurted, now he was quickly losing faith.

"Well it's not like time travel's a simple concept, otherwise people would be doing it all the time if they could. Obviously I'm working in an unknown field, but I believe I will work, I'd bet my life on it."

"Well it sounds like you'll be losing your life to me," Marco said dubiously. "I don't like this Meteora, even if I do help you, I won't know the first thing about getting to this dimension. Hekapoo told us that there are normal dimensions like yours and mine, and then there are these special ones that don't abide by the natural law and are extremely dangerous. The dimension itself is dangerous and so will trying to navigate a path if I don't already know where I'm going, and I don't! I could accidentally send you into the heart of an active volcano."

"But Skywyne does, she's been there before." Meteora flipped through the diary and came to a passage. In it, Skywyne talks about how she first stopped time but couldn't restart it, so she discovered how to get to the Plains of Time, it was relatively simple that was just shrouded in convolutions to make it seem difficult.

"Marco, look," Meteora pulled his attention back to her, and she looked modest, vulnerable. "I know how dangerous this all seems, and that there are a million-and-one things that can go wrong, but this is important to me. All I've ever heard about my father is stories, my mom would tell me a new story of him every night when I was a kid so I would grow up knowing him. But I don't know him, I never met him, not the real him. It was just me and my mom growing up, and all I ever wanted to do was meet my dad, just once; that's been my one wish and now I feel like it's just in arms reach of me. Please, Marco, help me out?"

Marco contemplated heavily, Meteora was aware of his concerns of how dangerous it could be, but even still she chose to confide in him. Yes, she was just using him for his scissors, but she opened her heart of what she wanted and why. If Marco did help her, she may never be seen again, left to an unknown fate.

"Okay Meteora," he gave in. "But I'm coming with you."

"What? No. I just need you to get me to the Plains of Time so I can find the Wheel of Progress. There's no need for you to come along."

"Well too bad," he argued. "My conditions for helping you are that I come with you. Meteora, I'm worried about what could happen to you, at least if I'm around we could have a better chance of returning. Besides, if everything does go right, how are you going to get back here? It's not like I can keep a portal open indefinitely."

"Okay fine," Meteora conceded disapprovingly. She really didn't want him to tag along, more accurately she didn't want to drag anyone else into her business. But Marco was the best chance she had to be able to do this, so if she had to take him with her, she would.

With that agreed upon Marco sliced a hole into space and opened a portal to the Plains of Time, Meteora grabbed her navigational device and the two jumped through. They made it to the other side with easy, landing in their destination. The Plains were something of a wasteland with dirt mounds, rivers, and a few dead trees that could be spotted now and again. And littered everywhere were clocks. The laid on the ground, imbedded in the earth, hung from trees, some even floated. Many of the clocks looked warped and contorted or looked melted like they had the firmness of a pancake.

"Okay, so now all we have to do is find Father Time and somehow get the Wheel of Progress from him then travel through time, which no one knows how to do, go back far enough for me to see my father and come right back. Easy, right?" Meteora recapped the plan pointing out several of the problems they faced and glossing over a lot of the finer details.

"So where do we start looking?" Marco asked staring nervously at a floating cat clock whose eyes moved back and forth at every second.

"Well hey there kids," a voice said behind them. Marco screamed as he was greeted by a large buck-toothed fuzzy face. At a better glance, it looked like a giant blue hamster with a clock around its neck and three other hamsters with it, lined up two-by-two and strung together. Behind the hamsters was a giant gear the hamsters were connected to and a seven-foot blue man with a great white beard sat on top of it.

"Are you Father Time?" Meteora asked apprehensively, concerned that it took them no time at all to find him. Actually, he found them.

"Sure am!" He responded enthusiastically like it was the best question to have been asked. "And what brings you kids to the Plains of Time? I don't get many visitors here since it's just me and these guys."

"So much for great beasts," Meteora muttered looking at the giant rodents with there adorable puffy faces, this was seriously not how either of them expected this interaction to go. "Look, what I'm about to ask is going to sound bad, but can we borrow your wheel so we can travel back a few years?"

"Sure, no problem!" He complied without an argument. "Hop on, I have enough space for you two."

The two looked at Father Time who was strangely compliant and at his seat as he scooted over to make room, only enough for one.

"Uhhhh," Marco's eyes shifted from the seat to Meteora, not sure how to proceed.

"Oh just get on," she pushed him forward.

Marco climbed atop the wheel and got as comfortable as he could as Meteora sat on his lap and put her arms around him for better support.

"Excuse me, but why are you helping us?" Marco asked their driver. "I mean, shouldn't you stop people from messing with time?"

"Nope," he said eagerly. "I literally have nothing better to do. All I really need to do is make sure this wheel keeps moving, and that about covers it. So, this a forward in time or backward situation?"

"We want to go backwards," Meteora replied as she turned her device on as electricity shot between the antennae and the date appeared the screen.

"Okay, back 'er up boys," the hamsters began walking backwards, pushing the wheel back.

"Is… is it working?" Marco asked confused whether they were moving through time.

"Looks like it," Meteora pointed at her navigator as the date began rolling back days. Soon they had gone back a week, then to months, and soon they were moving back years. But nothing was changing around them, they weren't getting younger, the landscape wasn't changing, in fact, the clocks kept moving forward.

"Father Time, I don't think you're doing this right," Marco voice his concern.

"Nah, it's working just fine. This dimension is the epitome of time itself, you can't be at the center of time if you're moving with time, whether it's going backwards of forwards. Outside of this dimension time's moving backwards, but in the Plains of Time, it's always the present. No matter when it is in the universe, it'll always be the now here."

"Stop, I think we've gone back far enough," Meteora shouted. The wheel stopped and the two got off. Marco rubbed his legs thankful to have the extra weight off him.

"I'm not that heavy," Meteora critiqued as she noticed his action.

"Okay you two, have fun with whatever you're doing. And if you want to return to your time just come find me again." With the farewell Father Time whipped his hamsters, signalling them to march. Soon the giant and his hamster-drawn wheel vanished in the distance.

"So, you think it really worked?" Marco doubted.

"Let's find out, open a portal back home. If it worked it should be about sixteen years prior back on Mewni." Marco did as instructed and the two walked through.

"What the?" The two said. On the other side, the school was gone, not a trace of the campus stood out.

"Maybe due to the time shift we were sent off course of our original destination," Meteora suggested looking at the unfamiliar surroundings. They were certainly on Mewni though, she and Marco recognized the native vegetation.

"And you're absolutely certain your box is correct in the year we're in?"

"Yes," she exasperated. "There's no way I programmed it incorrectly."

"How'd you even make that thing anyway?" Marco asked looking at her creation, dubious she actually had the skill to make it.

"I'm sure it comes as a surprise to you, but I'm actually a pretty kickass engineer." Yeah, he found it difficult to believe.

"Maybe we should head to the castle over there?" Marco suggested pointing to a large structure in the distance. Not seeing a better option, she pocketed her device and they walked towards it. It was a relatively short walk but was made all the more difficult with the plantation constantly in their way.

"This look familiar to you?" Marco asked his partner who was just as lost as he was. The large gates in front of the structure opened and large men in masks came out surrounding them.

"Now, what have we here?" A short hunchback man with a yellow monocle over his face asked. His face was covered in stitches, spots and thin wisps of hair and his left leg was replaced with a mechanical prosthetic. "Who are you two and what business have you here? Speak!"

"Uh, I'm Marco Diaz and this is my friend Meteora Butterfly, we're kind of lost and we were hoping you could help us figure out where we are."

"Butterfly?" The troll-like man said astonished. "As in the Butterfly family, rulers of the Mewni kingdom?"

"Well, yeah that's me, but we haven't ruled in over-" Meteora was cut short as two of the men grabbed both her arms. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

"You let her go!" Marco took a fighter stance warning them.

"Finally, after all this time of failure, a Butterfly just waltzes to our front door. Take her inside." The man snapped his fingers and the two that grabbed Meteora carried her towards the castle.

"Let go of me!" She struggled to break free but the guards' grips were like steel traps.

"Meteora!" Marco lunged at the closest man and kicked him over, making a B-line for the ones holding Meteora. Three others positioned themselves between the two and Marco made a decisive punch for the closets body, but it was tougher than he expected and the man barely registered the strike. The guard from earlier grabbed Marco and pinned him to the ground.

"We have no need for boys," the short man said as the guard got off Marco and lifted himself to him to his feet. "In honour of bringing a Butterfly princess to us we are willing to let you go free, I suggest you take it."

"And if I don't?" He asked menacingly.

"Well, we are always in need of servants," the man answered. "Now run along, boy."

The men walked towards the castle, leaving Marco alone, something they would regret. Marco made a portal and appeared above one of the guards hauling Meteora away for a more advantageous position. He attempted to blindside the guard by punching him in the face, which he did, but the guard went unphased and continued onward.

"Well, we gave him a chance." The man snapped his fingers and one of the guards punched Marco sending him flying so hard he flew past Meteora.

"Marco!" She cried seeing her friend landed in front of her. A guard put his boot on Marco's chest and began pressing down, it became harder for Marco to breathe as he tried lifting the boot off him. Soon a rage weld inside Meteora.

"Let. Us. GO!" She broke free of her captors as magic blew in all direction from her like a small bomb. She used her magic to blast the man off Marco. "You okay?"

"I think so," he confessed in bated breath being helped up. "Did you get bigger?"

Meteora did grow a size larger and her monster-ish appearance seemed more prominent. There was more colour in her arms and legs, her eyes looked more fiendish, and her teeth and horns were sharper.

"Yeah, my dad was a size shifter, I can do it too to an extent. But that's not important!" She punched a guard with a magic-infused fist that sent him flying then erected a bubble around them as they were quickly surrounded.

"Get us out of here!" She cried as the guards pounded on her barrier.

Marco cut his scissors into the air but nothing happened. He tried again and again but with the same results.

"Marco!" Meteora began showing signs of straining as she tried keeping the barrier up under the constant onslaught.

"I'm trying!" He panicked as he continued swiping his scissors through the air. "They aren't working."

At that moment Meteora's barrier broke and she collapsed from the mental strain. Meteora cried in pain as she was electrocuted on the ground by the small man who held an electric rod until she could no longer resist. One of the guards grabbed Marco's arm and took the scissors from him.

"Dimensional scissors," the man identified as they were handed to him and pointed to a tower with a green light shining from it. "Sadly, these do not work within the walls of our fortress thanks to our citadel. And such a shame for you young man, you were given a choice and made the poor decision. Take them away."

One guard picked up the unconscious Meteora who reverted to her original form as two others held Marco and dragged him in a different direction as her.

"Where are you taking her? What are you going to do to us?" He shouted to the man who ignored Marco as he led the guard holding Meteora.

Marco struggled and thrashed, trying to breaking free from the guards' grip, but they held him too firmly. He witnessed helplessly as Meteora's limp body was removed from view, and darkness soon followed.

**Honestly, I wanted to keep writing, I really did. But I also felt this was an okay spot to stop and make it a two-parter. Hopefully, it will be out soon enough.**

**So see you in the next chapter for **_**The**__**Legend of Princess Turdina part 2.**_


	11. The Legend of Princess Turdina (Part 2)

"I can't believe that worked," Marco said in disbelief staring at the open gate. He was taken to a dungeon where he was left alone, no other prisoners or guards. It had been hours before someone came down and gave him food. They had given him a metal fork to use and the guard never stayed to keep watch.

Marco had watched a lot of prison break movies and was inspired to learn how to make a grand escape from prison, not that he thought he'd ever end up in one, just an interesting skill to have. Recently he's done more research to try and counter Janna who constantly lets herself into his room whenever she wants and under any circumstance. His studying proved useful when he bent the prongs on the fork to create a makeshift lockpick. It was fortunate for him that the cell had a skeleton lock, very easy to break out of with the right tool.

To make it look like he hadn't l escaped, he gathered a bunch of miscellaneous objects like a pot, straw, and a pillow and put his jacket over them, shaping it to look like him and faced it towards the cell corner.

"That should buy me some time." He complimented himself with his fine work making a dummy. He made his way out the exit, staying as quiet and vigilant as possible, listening for any footsteps ahead of him.

He had no idea where he was, where Meteora could have been taken, or what they were planning to do with her. And he didn't want to find out, he needed to find her, but his scissors were taken from him so their only way home was gone. It was just one problem after another. The castle was surprisingly empty, no guards were spotted or any denizens of the castle. Not even a sign of the hunchback guy.

Marco froze when his luck ran out, after rounding a corner he faced one of the guards who stood in a dark room. He thought he was done for, but the guard made no move even though Marco was clearly visible. With cautious curiosity Marco slowly walked towards him, was he blind or was it an empty uniform? There was no response from the guard, it was like he was a statue.

Marco's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and could see shapes in the room. He pulled out his compact mirror and turned the light feature on, revealing more guards, all just as unresponsive. He saw that there were tubes coming from their backs that lead to the ceiling and monitors that displayed a percentage.

"Are these guys robots?" Marco deduced. It made sense with their incredible strength and unnatural toughness. Could he use these things for himself? Not likely, he wasn't a tech guy, the best he could do was try and sabotage them to make them inoperable, but that could very well alert someone or activate the others and his cover would be blown. He made a mental note of where the room was and left, continuing on his mission to either find Meteora or his scissors.

He kept good track of making a mental map of the castle by noting any distinguishing features he passed like seeing a crack in the wall or broken tiles. His concentration broke when he heard footsteps approaching from the opposite direction, he dove for a door and entered the room to avoid detection. Unfortunately, his action and his intention were counter-productive as he feverishly entered an occupied room with a girl inside.

The girl had long curly blonde hair, a pointed nose, and four arms. The two were speechless when they saw each other, but then the girl began to scream when she processed that Marco was an intruder. He pounced at her and tackled her to the ground, covering her mouth. He held his breathe looking back at the door, hoping no one heard; after some time with no interruption he exhaled and looked at the girl he was on top of.

"Okay, I know what this situation seems like to you," he said trying to be as calm as possible and hope that the girl would listen to him. "But I'm not here to hurt or rob you. I'm going to take my hand away and I really need you to not alert the guards. I'm just here to find my friend who was captured and then escape from here. Okay?"

The girl nodded, understanding him. Marco did as he said and slowly removed his hand, hopefully not needing to muffle her again if she was really lying. But she didn't scream, she just looked at him, not sure what to do, then she got kind of angry.

"Get off me already," she shoved Marco off her. "Okay, who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm Marco Diaz, and like I said, my friend was captured and now I'm trying to find her and escape."

"Yeah well, good luck with that one pal." The girl picked herself up and dusted her dress, she picked up a small crown that fell off when Marco tackled her and set it back on her head. "Believe me, no one's been able to escape from this place. It's impossible, do you even realize where you are?"

"Not really," Marco got off the ground himself. "We kind of got lost and came here to ask for directions. Then the guy with the hunchback and his robots appeared, and then without warning they kidnapped her."

"I can't believe you dorks just wandered here and admitted your friend was a princess, how thick can you be?"

"Well, technically she's not a princess anymore, but I guess they don't care." Marco corrected her. "But how does that matter? Where are we? We are these people capturing princesses?"

"Wow, you really don't know where you are," the girl said in awe and sat on a chair. "Okay, introductions are first. I'm Princess Arms, and welcome to Heinous' Castle, ruled by the most ferocious and feared monster in the world, Ms. Heinous; and if you're not one of her robot minions you're a captive, like me and every other princess here."

"Heinous?" Marco cried. The same Heinous that was featured in the play they're supposed to put on at school? Marco was unaware that the play, _The_ _Rebel Princess,_ was actually grounded in history, he thought it was just a story like _Midsummer's Night Dream_ or _The Lion King._

"Hey, now he gets it. Yes, Heinous, the indestructible and unstoppable monster herself. This is her castle."

"Okay, but why is she kidnapping princesses?" He didn't actually get through the whole play the night before, just knew that it was something about a princess who rebelled and fought monster or something.

"You really do live under a rock, huh? According to Ms. Heinous, she was a princess herself once but her kingdom and throne were stolen from her. So in an act of vengeance, she harnessed powers most can't comprehend and wreaked havoc throughout the kingdoms. Her only demand was for each king and queen of every kingdom to give up their first-born daughter, that would save their kingdom her torment. In her world, they took something important from her, so she's taking something important from everyone else."

"And that's why they took Meteora, because she's a Butterfly."

"Butterfly? Wow, you guys really screwed up. The Butterflys are one of the few who have been able to successfully repel Ms. Heinous and you just gave her a princess? So, what's your plan on getting you and your friend out of here?"

"Well, find Meteora, get my dimensional scissors back, get out of range of whatever's nullifying their power, and go home."

"Cute plan, won't work." Princess Arms opened her closet and started rifling through it. "First, your plan is easier said than done. Finding your friend will be almost impossible if you don't know where you're going, there are few boys here and if any are spotted without being accompanied by a guard, he's in serious trouble. Second, your scissors are probably in lock up, confiscated like all the others were and they've been securely locked away. Lastly, the moment Ms. Heinous learns a princess has escaped, which will be almost immediately, she'll annihilate you before you can say 'oops'. And if Heinous is after you, well there's not many forces that can stop her. Here it is."

The princess tossed Marco a purple dress. "Put that on."

"What, why?" For many reasons, he didn't feel comfortable wearing a dress and didn't like doing things he didn't understand.

"As I said, if a boy is caught without being escorted by a guard, he's in serious trouble. But nobody bats an eye at a princess walking around by herself. Plus, the chances of you finding your friend increases if it's a boy they're looking for, not a girl."

Marco had to admit, he had a limited amount of time before someone noticed his dummy, after that they would probably be on high alert, blending in to look like a girl would be a great disguise. But one question was itching him.

"Are you helping me?"

"Was it the dress that gave it away?" She asked in a sarcastic tone. "Obviously I'm helping you. Do you think I hold an alliance to Ms. Heinous? I'm a captive, if I can do anything to make her the least bit miserable, I'm doing it. What I would give to see the look on her face after she's been told her latest princess was kidnapped. Now get changed." Marco swallowed his pride and put the dress on.

"How do I look?" He hated to admit it, but it actually fit him kind of comfortably.

"Terrible, we need to fix you up." She grabbed him and forced him onto a chair in front of a mirror, the reflection showed that she had a different make-up tool in each hand. Marco dreaded the foreseeable future.

-00000

"I look ridiculous," Marco said though gritted teeth.

"You look like a princess." Princess Arms corrected him as she walked with him down the hall trying not to gather attention to the two. The princess decorated Marco with red lipstick, blush, and purple eye shadow to better disguise him and added a fake ponytail. When she was done Marco had to admit, he did look more feminine; actually, he looked like a cuter version of his sister which kind of disturbed Marco that he could look more girlish than her.

"You're sure you know where Meteora is?" He asked in a low voice as they passed guards. The robots didn't stop the two so the disguise must be working.

"I know where she _might_ be," Princess Arms said leading Marco. "If she's how you describe her then she's probably in the solitary wing where problematic princesses go until they can learn to behave. And we'll need to work fast before anyone notices she's gone too. If she really can use magic then we'll definitely need her to get your scissors for your escape."

"Why don't you come with us?" Marco suggested wanting to pay her back for helping. "I mean, you're a captive here too, don't you want to escape?"

"Not that simple. As I said, I'm not just a captive, I'm a sacrifice. The only reason I'm here is so that Ms. Heinous won't destroy my kingdom. If she learns I've escaped I'll have doomed my home, my family, and my people. Staying here is the only option I have, and the same with every other princess here."

That was horrible, living a life of exile to protect people. It was certainly a noble cause; one Marco would willingly choose himself if put in their position. But to be stripped of your freedom by a malicious monster out of spite. What a crueller fate.

"Okay, stay quiet, we're almost to where your friend might be. If we get caught, we'll be busted and-"

"Hello Princess Arms," it was the man from earlier who greeted the princess. He was in their path and a terrifyingly large lizardman with a purple cloak followed close behind him. The lizardman had a purple jewel in his left eye and his left arm appeared to be mechanical, with what looked like a chainsaw slung over his back. "How are you doing this day?"

"Gemini! Hi!" The princess had a quick moment of panic when she spotted him all too late. Marco froze in fear but Princess Arms quickly gathered herself and gave an elegant curtsy while clearing her throat. "I mean, hello sir, it's so pleasant to see you and Rasticore. It's just another wonderful day here, how have you two been?"

"I've been quite fine; we captured another princess today. She walked up to the front gates voluntarily but put up quite the fight." He answered pleasantly. "What might you be doing?"

"Another princess will be joining us? That's wonderful, the more the merrier," the princess answered him in a false cheery tone. "We were just on our way to embroidery class."

"You do make some of the more beautiful embroideries, princess," he complimented her and turned to Marco with a bit of a quizzical look. Was he caught? "I'm sorry dear, your name slips my mind."

"ME? Oh, I'm uh…" Marco's mind blanked, he was undercover, put on the spot, and was facing one of the people he most definitely didn't want to run into along with a very intimidating septarian. In his panic, only one name came to mind and answered in the most feminine voice he could muster. "Turdina, I'm Princess Turdina."

"Oh yes, Princess Turdina!" Gemini pretended to remember out of curtesy. "I'm sorry my dear, there are so many princesses around these days that it's rather hard to keep track of you all. Well, you two have a good day."

Marco followed Princess Arms' example and bowed when the two men excused themselves.

"Before I forget," he stopped them before leaving. "There's a young man that accompanied the princess we captured and I'm told he's escaped. Do keep an eye out for him. If I recall correctly, he wore a red jacket and has a mole on his face, just like yours Princess Turdina."

"Oh really?" Marco said as he could feel his body getting moist from his sweating. "We'll be sure to notify the guards if we spot him."

Gemini nodded, happy that the princesses were complying before he left them alone. As soon as it was just Marco and Princess Arms, Marco broke his composure and started hyperventilating, resting his hands on his knees.

"Turdina? Seriously?" Princess Arms berated him. "What kind of name is that? You have no idea how thin our ice is right now! Of everyone in the castle, those are the two we most definitely don't want to get caught by! And you go and answer with a stupid name like Turdina?"

"I'm sorry okay," he replied catching his breath. "I panicked and it just popped into my head. And besides, it's not any more stupid than a name that also describes one of my defining physical characteristics. How about I named myself Princess Ponytail, or Princess Mole-on-my-Face, or how about Princess I'm-Secretly-the-Boy-You're-Looking For? Would those names have been more suitable?"

Princess Arms squinted at him with all four of her arms crossed, clearly not amused by Marco's tone. "Just keep walking."

He did as he was ordered and continued down the path, this time the two were more silent to one another. It didn't take long for them to come to a round room with eight doors that each had a small window with bars.

"Your friend should be in one of these rooms." Princess Arms said.

"Meteora? You in here?" Marco called out.

"Marco, is that you?" Meteora's face could be seen from one of the windows.

"Thank goodness," Marco said relieved to see here safe. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I woke up a while ago and found myself here. Marco, where are we?"

"I'll tell you later, for now, let's get you out of there." He examined the lock to her cell; it was another skeleton lock just like the one his cell had. "I think I can pick the lock, but I'll need something small but sturdy."

"Hang on, I think I know what can help. Stand back." Meteora disappeared from the window and Marco checked to see what she was getting him.

"Stand back? Why, what are—WHOA!" He jumped out of the way in time as a table flew towards him and blow the door to splinters. "That's one way to break out, literally."

"HA! I still got it!" Meteora complimented herself victoriously as she stood in the doorway with what was left of the door scattered around her.

"What are you wearing?" Marco asked picking himself up. Meteora wore a lime green dress with frill lacing and a high V-neck showing her upper chest and shoulders looking like a proper princess.

"What are you wearing?" She shot back even more confused seeing him in a dress than he was of her.

"It's a disguise," he said quickly in embarrassment. "Let's not focus on the clothing and get out of here."

"Definitely. Do your scissor thing and get us out of here."

"Can't, they took my scissors," Marco informed her. "Besides, even if I did have them I couldn't use them. They have something that's interfering and stopping them from slicing through dimensions, we're stuck here until we can recover them and then either shut down the thing or get out of its range."

"Both are equally impossible," Princess Arms chimed in. "The range reaches as far as the gate and escape is impossible, and getting to the tramorfidian crystal is constantly guarded. And that's only if you can get your scissors."

"I'm sorry, and you are?" Meteora asked now aware of the actual princess.

"This is Princess Arms, she's helping us escape. Meteora, can I quickly talk to you for a second." He put an arm around her and led her out of earshot of Princess Arms and spoke in a low whisper. "How certain are you that we're only 16 years in the past?"

"Positive, why do you ask?"

"Because I've been talking to Arms and she says this is Heinous' castle. The same Heinous from our play."

"Wait, that's not right. Unless," Meteora pulled her device out from her dress and gently whacked it. Marco was highly confused as to where she stashed that thing. "Oh, shit!"

"What?" Marco didn't like the sound of that. He didn't like the sound of their entire situation but hated that it was about to get worse.

"We didn't go back sixteen years; we went back nearly eight-hundred!" She showed Marco the screen to confirm that they had indeed gone back that far.

"I thought you said you were an amazing engineer?"

"Yeah well, how many clocks have you made that can track time in real-time both forwards and backwards?" She put it back in her hidden space and sighed heavily. "Okay, so we're way off the mark and stuck in the past, trapped in a castle with one of history's most feared monster, and both wearing dresses. What now?"

"I don't know, but that's why we have her," Marco broke from their private conversation and addressed their conspirator. "So Princess, you have a plan that could help us escape?"

"I never said that," she said with all her arms were crossed. "I just said I'd help you escape, I never said anything about a plan."

"We're doomed," Meteora said with her face in her palms.

"Yup," Marco agreed.

-00000

The three sat in a circle, bouncing ideas off one another and most of them being shot down by Princess Arms who would immediately counter their proposal. It had been nearly an hour and they hadn't left the room, moving without a plan of action was too risky if they got caught.

"What if we just fight Heinous?" Meteora suggested in irritation as she and Marco slowly ran out of ideas.

"That's the dumbest thing I heard today," the princess said. "Fighting her is equal to suicide, entire armies have faced and fallen before her, you two would have no chance."

"Okay, let's just go over what we have so far," Marco wanted to recount what they've made at the moment. "My scissors are locked in a room with all other confiscated items from princesses and others who have attempted to free them. There's a crystal that blocks portals from being made located in a tower guarded by robots. I need to stay in disguise and pretend I'm a princess or face a fate worse than death. And to top it off we need to avoid a terrifying monster that makes kingdoms shiver with fear. And all we've been able to come up with is, don't get caught."

"And let's not forget her top enforcer Rasticore, if he catches us, we'll wish we were dead." Princess Arms added. Meteora slumps over after hearing how much progress after freeing her they've accomplished.

"This is hopeless, we're totally screwed! And the longer we stay here the more likely a chance is we'll be caught when someone comes to check on me." Meteora looked to the wreckage of the prison door. "If only I hadn't found that journal."

"Hey, it's okay," Marco tried consoling her. "You just had an ambition and no hindsight; it happens to the best of us."

"You really suck at cheering people up, you know that right?" Marco had nothing to say. He tried, he really tried, but she was too obstinate. "Things would be a lot easier if we didn't have to worry about those guards."

"Yeah…" Marco agreed, slowly forming an idea. "Hey, if you could, what are the chances you could reprogram them?"

"Not sure, this is ancient technology," Meteora told him. "Hell, not just ancient, completely outdated, the possibilities range from not-a-clue to lickety-split. But even if I could, I would have to disable and reprogram them one-by-one, I could get through a few, maybe, but others would surely notice quickly. If they were all connected to the same system, then maybe I could get them all in one."

"But they are all connected to the same system." Princess Arms informed them, that caught everyone's attention and beamed a glint of hope. "They all run on an internal power that needs recharging with instruction all directed by a motherboard."

"Then if I can get to that motherboard and either hack or reprogram it…" Meteora picked up the train.

"Then you could either get all the guards to shut down or aid us." Marco finished.

"But I doubt it'd be that easy, we'd need to get their attention, something that would distract them."

"Like maybe a riot!"

Marco and Meteora beamed at each other and looked to Princess Arms for her support, who looked contemplative.

"That… may work," she confirmed. "Okay, I'll take Meteora so she can reprogram the guards, that leaves Marco with starting a commotion."

"Are you sure that's the wisest choice?" Meteora asked. "You know the girls here better, surely you could get them to start making noise better than Marco could."

"Yeah, but she also knows the castle better than us," Marco added. "Plus I have a disguise, you'll need someone to help cover for you."

"You ask me, both ideas are stupid," Princess Arms announced. "But it's the best shot we have. Okay, Marco, you need to head to the west wing, just go in the opposite direction we came from and follow the right path and then keep going straight. That's where most of the princesses are having tea around this time, we're all pretty miserable so creating a scene will be easy, but inspiring them could be difficult. Remember, we're prisoners for a reason, so give them a cause worth rioting over. In the meantime, we'll do our best on our end. And if we screw up, then we'll all be caught and left to a doomed fate."

"Way to end on a high note," Meteora commented on the princess's bleak outlook. "Okay, if that's everything, let's get a move on."

The trio was in agreement, it wasn't a solid plan, barely an idea honestly, but it was what they had.

"Marco," Meteora stopped him before they split. "Just, be careful, okay? You're in this mess because of me. I'd really hate if something happened to you."

"It's okay Meteora, I chose to come along because I was worried something may happen to you. I guess we're in this situation because of each other. I promise to be careful if you do?"

"I promise," she lightly punched him on the arm for good luck and followed the princess to where the guards' monitoring room was and Marco followed the directions he was given. He was way too nervous, for good reasons, but he made it through the castle with little trouble, juts praying to whatever god may be out there that none of the robots see through his disguise.

He finally made it to the place he needed to be. It was a large room filled with tables and several princesses sat at each one, each looking miserable or unsatisfied. Even when he sat at a table, the girls present barely registered him, they simply sat there staring into their hot cups of tea. It was at that moment that Marco realized just how much of prisoners they were. Taken from their homes, unable to see their families, given a modicum of luxury only there to taunt them of what they could never gain back, prisoners of their own hearts. The only small comfort is the knowledge that their sacrifice will save their kingdom.

Marco stared at his own reflection in the teacup that sat in front of him, looking at the girl inside it. What if she had a family, a kingdom? People to never see again and left as an empty shell of what she once was. This made Marco angry, truly angry at the thought of the injustice, the pervasion. His mind dove deeper inside itself thinking of the cruelty it played, and the joy Heinous must be feeling from what she's doing. He became so angry that he didn't even realize he had thrown his teacup until the sound of breaking porcelain had already reverberated through the room.

He froze when he noticed all eyes were on him, even the few guards that were keeping watch monitored the commotion. He didn't prepare himself; he didn't know what to do, he was without a plan. He had everyone's attention but what now?

"Um… This, this isn't right." He sputtered out allowing whatever came to mind to be said aloud. "This isn't how our lives should be! This isn't how we princesses should be living our lives! We should be with our families, our friends. But here we are, trapped living in a world where all we can do is count the days come and go!"

He grew bolder and more confident and climbed onto a table, letting himself stand out.

"We are supposed to be the futures of our kingdoms, but here we are, trapped with nothing to look forward to. Wishing for a day where we can walk outside those gates again into a world without Heinous! We stay here for our kingdoms, but how do we know that they prosper to this day? How do we know that Heinous has kept her word and they still stand? If our families saw us now, would they be proud of our sacrifice, or would they weep for our compliance? Not me! I will resist, I will not be dismissed!"

"You! Settle down or it's solitary for you!" A guard threatened as it got closer to him. Before it could grab him, Marco grabbed the chair he sat on and broke it across the guard's head and then kicking it hard enough to send the mechanical head flying.

The room gasped to the witness of Marco's outburst; all the princesses were stunned.

"No! I am Princess Turdina, and I will resist, I will not be dismissed! I will resist, I will not be dismissed!" He chanted over the dismantled body. The guards immediately took action and charged Marco with intention of capture. Marco fought back, not too difficult as the guards moved in a rather predictable fashion that was easy to evade. But try as he might their numbers overpowered him and he was subdued. He struggled under their weight and grip in a futile effort, but he and the guards stopped struggling as the sound of a breaking cup was heard.

"I will resist, I will not be dismissed!" A princess rose and chanted Marco's maxim. Soon a second followed suit and another, and soon enough the entire room was in unison. The guards threatened the princesses to settle down but to no avail.

They had grown into a mob, all sick of their imprisonment, wanting just a glimmer of hope that can allow them to return home, live a happy life.

They swarmed the guards on Marco and started beating them with chairs and broken pieces of furniture, prying them off Marco. The robots were now the ones overwhelmed and quickly broken down until scraps scattered the floor. They certainly had a lot of pent-up aggression, Marco was a bit scared of the ruthlessness these princesses possessed, but they certainly were efficient.

The room roared in cheers and whoops as the princesses looked at their victory, it was the first time in who knows how long that they did anything out of their own will and coupled with the feeling of triumph over their oppressors.

"Okay, okay! Everyone, settle down!" Marco called for their attention. "This was a small victory, but we aren't done yet! They will take action in response to our defiance and look to quiet us, but we will not be silenced and there are still other sisters within the castle who need help! I say we take the castle and bring down Heinous ourselves!"

The princesses answered to Marco's rally, all in agreement. Deep down, they all knew it was a foolish and vain attempt, but they needed this. Too long had they been prisoners of both Heinous and their own hearts, it was time to stand up for themselves. They began chanting again, fists raised in the air. Phase one of their plan was complete.

Led by Marco, they girls stormed though the castle, creating as much disturbance and chaos as possible rallying others to their cause and fending off all guards that tried stopping them. Soon the riot led to the courtyard where princesses could be seen battling against guards to stop the outbreak in a full-on brawl. But the tides soon shifted as more robots appeared, overwhelming the rebellion until it became too much, one after another, girls were subdued and the rebellion was being quelled.

Marco put up his best fight, but even he found himself captured and lifted high in the air over a guard's head, he braised himself expecting disaster, expecting ruin. But not expecting to be gently placed back on his feet. Guards began releasing princesses with care when just a moment ago they were all fighting one another.

"Protect the princesses," the guard that placed Marco down said. "Serve the princesses loyally."

"They did it," Marco told himself realizing what happened, shouting for joy. "They did it! Meteora and Princess Arms reprogrammed the guards! They've made the guards do our bidding now! We've done it, we've taken the castle!"

The princesses cheered in triumph from hearing Marco's reassurance. They had done what seemed impossible, they had attained victory, they had freed themselves. But their cheers began turning to a chant, to a rally. The cried out the name Turdina, their liberator; their hero. Marco soaked in what he accomplished, taking in the glory and adoration, this sense of fulfilment.

His was a brief moment as the sound of an engine and tearing metal drowned everything out. The robot next to Marco fell in two pieces, a cut going from its shoulder and crossing diagonally down to its waist. Hidden behind was the septarian from earlier brandishing his chainsaw, Rasticore.

"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded to know, already aware of the situation. His eyes locked onto Marco. "So, you are the ring leader? I'll end you and your rebellion too!"

The enforcer swung his chainsaw at Marco, who was so frightened and spooked that he tripped over his dress, the teeth of the machine missing him. The septarian let out an intimidating cry as the flaps on his neck stretched out and raised his weapon high above his head. Marco was too paralyzed to move and screamed in horror to what was coming.

But to another surprise, the chainsaw never bore down on him. A green blast travelled over Marco and hit Rasticore, blowing him up with nothing left but his one good arm that fell on Marco. He threw it off him in repulsion and tracked to where the blast came from.

Marco had never seen Meteora look more heroic as black smoke came from one of her hands and helped Marco stand up.

"It looks like my princess needs her knight in shining armour." Meteora teased.

"I had the situation under control." He visibly lied trying to save face. "But thanks for the save. And for reprogramming the robots. I trust things went well on your end?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle," she flattered herself and pulled Marco and Princess Arms close to her. "Though it wouldn't have gone as smoothly without Armsy here."

"Armsy?" Marco asked quizzically wonder what happened between those two while he was gone.

"Eh, she insists on calling me that. Not like I mind it or anything." Princess Arms shrugged. "But enough about that, we've created a militia, reprogrammed the guards, and have taken the castle. We did it!"

"That's right we did!" Marco stood tall and addressed the princesses once more. "Now all that's left is to deactivate that crystal stopping our dimensional scissors and we're home free!"

Once more, cheering erupted among the girls in their time of victory. And once more, their cheering was cut off as a loud banging noise silenced them, shaking the ground. Then there was another, and another, each time growing louder and the ground trembling with greater force.

"What is that? Some kind of earthquake?" Marco asked trying to keep his balance.

"No, worse, much worse." Princess Arms said ominously. The rhythmic thundering grew louder and louder but stopped as suddenly as it started. Everyone looked around, trying to figure out what it was, where it came from, and why it stopped.

The castle wall blew open and chunks of rock were sent flying towards the courtyard. The princesses closest to the wall were thrown away and others shielded themselves. The dust cleared, and from the source stood a gargantuan monster with purple skin darkly shaded stripes. She had white hair and two pointed horns, and a large muscular tail dragged behind her. She was large in both size and muscle and wore what once looked like a beautiful dress now torn to pieces, and her face was twisted with an enraged expression.

"It's Ms. Heinous!" Princess Arms cried.

"Gemini!" The titan cried out. "What has happened here?"

"Apologies, My Lady," the attendant revealed himself, crawling out of a pile of robots that were destroyed in the earlier fight. "But it seems the princesses have rebelled and reprogrammed the guards to do their bidding. I am afraid the is no easy way of saying this, but I think they have taken the castle."

"Taken? My castle? Taken from me? Again!?" The idea of her castle, her possessions, being stolen from her again had enraged her further. "Who is responsible for this rebellion?"

"Uh, it is her, My Lady. Princess Turdina." Gemini pointed to Marco. When he saw that he was the center of Heinous' fury, he was glad he wore a dress because he would probably be wearing brown pants in that instance.

Heinous' eyes changed colour and turned glowed bright green, lasers shot out of them towards Marco. He, Meteora, and Princess Arms jumped out of the way, the beams flying past them and hitting a different girl. She was enveloped by a green aura, when it vanished the colour in the princess's eyes disappeared and turned black. Her body went limp and began to float upwards like a balloon. It all seemed as though Heinous had taken the girl's soul.

Everyone was stunned at what had happened to their comrade, then taken over by survival instincts and fear they broke out in a panic. The newly reprogrammed guards rushed at Heinous, who easily disposed of them with her brute force and fired her laser eyes wildly, unconcerned with who she hit.

"That's Heinous?" Marco said astonished as the three hid behind a large portion of the wall that blew into the courtyard. "You never mentioned anything about her being a giant or have soul-sucking laser eyes!"

"Seriously, how little do you know about her?" Princess Arms shouted as the body of a robot landed in front of them.

"Okay, so, Marco, any plans now?" Meteora asked completely terrified.

Marco peaked over their hiding spot to see absolute chaos. The guards were being destroyed at an alarming rate and more and more princesses where being blasted and floating away. He didn't know what to do, how do they stop a monster like that? No one could match it in strength, numbers were evidently useless; they needed something that could take it down in one fell swoop.

Then Marco gained a clue looking at the chunk of the wall he hid behind and looked at the tower that had the tramorfidian crystal and slunk back into hiding to tell the girls his idea.

"Okay, I have a plan, and if all goes well, we can get two birds with one stone…"

"Turdina! Where are you?" Heinous cried out having successfully repelled the last of the guards. The courtyard was mostly abandoned with broken robots, chunks of stone, and the bodies of floating princesses. The few princesses not caught in the crossfire had run back into the castle or hidden elsewhere, it was only Heinous left.

"Don't tell me I got you already, and I thought after everything you'd be more resilient."

"I'm right here Heinous," Marco called stepping into the light.

"After all my work, after all the infamy I'm renowned for, did you really think your rebellion could succeed? I've defeated entire armies with ease, what did you think a rag-tag group of miscreant princesses could have done?"

"Well, we trashed your castle, made your guards betray you, just about took your castle for ourselves. If you ask me, a rag-tag group of princesses was able to do better than any army did, I mean, maybe if you were even half the princess I am, your kingdom never would have AUGH-"

Marco dodged another blast directed at him and Heinous looked furious. In the most appropriate of terms, he had successfully pissed her off. He bobbed and weaved, trying his best not to get caught as Heinous chased him, her massive arms and feet slamming the ground trying to squash Marco. It was no easy task for him, being out in the open with few objects to hide behind or obscure her, Marco knew he could only keep it up for so long and his timeframe ended when he was finally pinned under Heinous' hand.

"I have you now Turdina," Heinous said with wicked pride. "This rebellion of yours was cute, but now it's over. And because of your actions and rallying the other princesses to fight back, ever kingdom will be punished, and I will gladly display your body at the forefront so everyone will know who is to blame and what awaits them."

"You think I'm scared of you? You think your threats frighten me?" Marco challenged as he stared into Heinous' glowing green eyes, struggling to breathe. "I am Princess Turdina… I have travelled great distances, trained by… seasoned warriors, recognized by Hekapoo… and so long as I… draw breath… I am running out of things to say, Meteora, hurry up!"

Heinous lost concentration and searched her surroundings, curious to what Marco referred to. She spotted the aforementioned half-monster having just destroyed the last bit of the tramorfidian crystal's tower base. No longer with proper support the tower toppled in the direction of Heinous.

"NOW!" Princess Arms and several others appeared out of hiding and threw a makeshift lasso made out of torn clothing, curtains, and bedsheets to Marco who managed to wriggle and arm free in Heinous' distraction. He grabbed the lasso and with all their might, the princesses yanked him free of Heinous' clutches and out of the tower's falling path.

Heinous screamed as the tower came tumbling towards her.

"At least it was an exciting day," Gemini said who stayed faithful by his mistress's side, both being buried under the tower.

The dust cleared, everyone stood silent staring at the mountain of rubble their captor had been buried under.

"Marco!" Meteora rushed to his side, he laid on the ground after having been pulled free. "You okay? Geez, doing something so reckless like that, that was stupid, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. Hold still, you hurt a bit."

Meteora tore off a piece of her dress and started blotting Marco's head, he recoiled a little feeling some pain as Meteora applied pressure to the tender spot, a bit of blood stained the torn fabric.

"Baby," she chuckled at his winces.

"Did we… actually get her?" Princess Arms asked in disbelief. One of the princesses walked to the pile and inspected it, then kicked a spot thinking that was a viable testing method.

"Hey guys, I think it worked!" She called back after there was no response. Everyone witnessed in dismay as a green flash appeared behind the princess and her eyes hollowed out and her body floated upwards.

Out from the rubble burst Heinous, roaring with a new unquenchable rage that practically shook the ground. In a blind fury she fired off her laser eyes indiscriminately, most just hit a wall or the ground harmlessly, but few were unfortunate enough to hit a target. Princess Arms was one such victim.

"Princess Arms!" Marco cried watching the soulless body of his companion float away.

"We have to go!" Meteora grabbed Marco by the hand and ran. The two did their best to run from the havoc, but every time they got somewhere that they could escape through or hide behind, a laser blocked their path and they immediately averted to a new direction.

Marco looked behind them to check whether Heinous noticed them or not. Maybe she did, or maybe it was just another stray shot that got lucky, but it was heading right for them.

"Look out Meteora!" Marco pushed her out of the way. The last thing she heard before falling over was her friend screaming.

"Marco?" She looked back to see her friend, laying on the ground. But he did not respond. His body lifted up, but he did not push himself, it moved on its own. Meteora watched in horror as she saw his eyes, as devoid of life as the abyss itself.

"No, nonononono." She muttered frantically grabbing him before he floated too far and held him close to her. "Marco? Marco! Wake up! Please wake up! Please don't go. Don't leave me…"

Tears welled in her eyes; this was her fault. If she never found that journal on how to travel back in time. If her stupid machine didn't malfunction and had gotten them stuck in this time period. If she never asked for his help. Everything was her fault; she was the cause for all of it.

Sound disappeared from the world, even her own thoughts fell silent, all sound except a rhythmic thumping that beat quickly. Her breathing grew ragged and the thumping grew faster. Meteora noticed Heinous stood overtop them, when did she get there? How did she casually get so close without Meteora noticing?

The thumping grew even faster, and it hurt, hurt her chest. It felt like a fist was trying to punch its way out of her like something was trying to get out.

Heinous smiled maliciously, seeing she had dealt with the great troublemaker, Turdina, and now her friend was the only one left. This made Meteora angry.

Meteora was at fault for everything, but not even half of these terrible things would have happened if not for Heinous! If not for her, they never would have been trapped in this castle. If not for her, they would already be out of this period of time. If not for her, this wouldn't have happened to Marco!

Heinous was happy to finally bring the failed rebellion to a definitive end and do the same to Meteora. But Meteora was not a scared princess, she was not a spiteful monster, and she was not powerless. With all her might, her own magic intercepted Heinous' attack and the two powers collided. They seemed evenly matched in the beginning, but Heinous proved to be the greater of the two and was slowly winning the power struggle.

Meteora was angry, beyond angry, but in control of her emotions. Heinous' beams closed in on her, too close for comfort. Meteora's chest hurt more, the thumping turned to pounding and she just wanted it to stop, she wanted Heinous to hurt like she was, to hurt more even! Something her teacher, Professor Glossaryck, had said, magic was connected to emotion. The stronger your feelings the better you could control and use magic, and Meteora felt so much anger and guilt. But something else, something like the need to protect, not herself, but Marco. He was already gone, but she wasn't going to give up on him! How could she ever face her friends if she just left him? And that damn pounding in her chest wouldn't stop, she just wanted the pain to stop.

With a great cry, something that was like a mixture of desperation, sorrow, and rage, she forced everything she could out and directed it to her enemy; even the pain. But the pain didn't travel out, it spread throughout her, and it slowly stopped hurting and began feeling more like pressure, a pressure trying to help support her body from the strain all this magical energy was applying to her. And slowly, she was pushing Heinous' power back.

She slowly rose in the air, the two women still locked in their struggle and Meteora feeling more powerful with every second. Her mind was too focused on beating Heinous to realize what was happening to her, why she floated upward or why her output of magical energy was more than she could ever muster before.

Heinous' expression shifter from glee to trouble, to distress, and finally, despair as Meteora forced everything out like a magical geyser. She overtook Heinous and was completely unrelenting as Heinous vanished in the green energy that Meteora washed over her.

Meteora didn't stop, she never realized that she won, that she defeated the monster. She only stopped because she eventually felt exhausted and couldn't possibly keep going anymore. And when her magic blast finally trickled out, nothing of Heinous was left, not even a scrap of her clothes. Her exhaustion struck her quickly and she weakly struggled to keep aloft, hardly successful as she floated down in an erratic path and she could see the ground closing fast.

But she felt she landed on something else, or more precisely something caught her.

"Hey, it's okay. I have you." A familiar voice said as it hoisted her up.

"Marco?" She said weakly, her vision was somewhat blurry but was quickly returning. And yes, she saw her friend, still in a dress and ponytail. But most importantly, his eyes were normal and vibrant.

"Marco!" She threw herself at him and wrapped him in a great hug, overjoyed to see him alright.

"Easy, easy, your wings already make you difficult to hold, I don't need you pushing me over." He said trying to stay balanced.

"Wings?" She looked over her shoulder to see two green translucent butterfly wings. Shocked, she looked at her body and saw that she now had two extra sets of arms and even her tail was longer. She felt around on her head and felt two antennae where her horns were and screamed in excitement. "I HIT MEWBERTY!"

"Ow, my ear," Marco winced and recoiled a bit from her outburst. Meteora's body began to sparkle and a bright flash blinded Marco. When he opened his eyes Meteora had reverted to her original form.

"What? Hey, no fair! I just got that, give it back!" She desperately tried to force her body to transform again. She eventually gave up after nothing happened and looked frustrated.

"It's okay," Marco said trying to comfort her. "Star told me that you grow out of mewberty when your body is able to handle all the excess magical energy. Maybe you were able to skip right over mewberty?"

"But then I'd also be able to transform at will," she pouted crossing her arms. That made Marco chuckle a little. "What's so funny?"

"It's just nice to see be more open, I guess."

Marco and Meteora's attention was caught by the princesses bodies. They slowly drifted back down to the ground, their bodies making the same sound when air slowly escapes a balloon until their bodies were only a few feet off the ground. Their black eyes turned back to normal and gravity took them again, most landing awkwardly as consciousness quickly returned and were given less than a second to react.

"What the…?" Princess Arms was one of the first to compose herself as more and more princesses were returning; she looked around to figure out what had happened and spotted Marco and Meteora. "Did you guys do it? Did you actually beat her?"

"Yeah, she's gone," Meteora said confidentially.

"For real this time?"

"For real,"

Princess Arms cried for joy and shouted to the heavens what had happened. Word spread quickly among the princesses and soon all others were crying out in jubilation.

"Turdina! Turdina! Turdina!" They chanted.

"What? No, I didn't do it. This was Mete-" Meteora elbowed his ribs and got him to put her down. She had regained enough strength to stand on her own.

"Take the credit. You've been an inspiration to them up to this point, it's right that you be the one to be called the hero."

"But I didn't do it, you're the one that saved us."

"Either take the credit or I rip that dress off you and show them who you really are." Meteora threatened as her sharpened claws glinted. Marco audibly gulped taking her threat seriously, and as much as he'd like to be out of the dress, he really didn't want to be humiliated in such a manner.

Marco climbed atop a chunk of the destroyed wall so everyone could better see him and waited for the girls to settle down.

"My princesses, we won! We took control of the robot guards, took over the castle, and most importantly, we defeated Heinous and took back our freedom!" All the girls cheered out. "But this day does not belong to me, or to any single one of us. It belongs to all of us! We stood against tyranny and came out the victors! Now we can go home, see our families again and live our lives! And we can live no longer in fear of Heinous, our kingdoms are free of her oppression, and we can do as we wish once again!"

His speech was met with thunderous applause as princesses whooped, cheered, and even wept. Soon their cheering turned to a chant. "I will resist! I will not be dismissed! I will resist! I will not be dismissed! I will resist! I will not be dismissed!"

"I will resist! I will not be dismissed!" Marco responded pumping his own fist in the air, he received even louder cheers.

"This calls for a celebration! PARTY!" Princess Arms screamed.

Marco hopped down to address Meteora. "Well, everyone's free, Heinous is defeated, the crystal's down, just need to get my scissors."

"Oh, right, thanks for reminding me." Meteora reached into her dress and pulled out his scissors.

"Where are you storing all these things?" He asked even more confused as to how much she was able to hide in her dress.

"A girl has to have her secrets," she grinned. "But are you planning on splitting right now? We just about bought it back there and these girls are probably going to through the wildest party in history. You can't honestly be planning on leaving when you're the big hero!"

Marco looked to behind him to the princesses, slowly heading back into the castle to scavenge what they can to make a party the likes have never seen.

"You know what? You're right, we should enjoy this while we can." He tucked the scissors into the ribbon tied around his waist. The two went to catch up with the princesses to join them in the most epic party of all time.

-00000

"I still can't believe they were able to make an entire swimming pool and fill it with syrup," Marco said stepping out of the Plains of Time and back into Mewni.

"I still can't believe I'm still finding glitter." Meteora ran her hands through her hair rapidly as flakes of shaved sparkling paper flew out. "But wicked party."

"Everything else will pale in comparison from now on, I'm afraid. By the way, did we just create a legend?"

"You mean a tale that will be passed on through generations and inspire young girls? Um, yeah, I think we did. Time travel, who knew?"

Marco blow out air, seeing it in the cold winter air. It looked like they were back, it was dark out, it was winter, they were at the campus, everything seemed to be before they left. Marco pulled out his compact and saw that he was getting a connection to the intercore; they must be back.

"One last thing," Meteora pulled out her device and smashed it to the ground, shattering it to pieces. "Good riddance."

"Meteora!" Marco cried in surprise. "What about meeting your dad? You got that thing fixed and now you destroy it?"

"Forget it, Marco, if I have to risk going through something like what we just dealt with again, I'd rather never do it. It's better I destroy it and hide that journal again hoping no one will be foolish enough to attempt what we did."

"Well, if you think that's best, but you worked really hard on it."

"Honestly Marco, I think I should leave the past where it belongs." A chill wind swept through that made Meteora shiver and run her hands up and down her arms.

"Marco? Meteora? Is that you guys?" Star and the other girls could be seen, all gathered together and very confused as to what they saw. The two could not be happier to see their friends.

"Oh, hey girls. How's it going?" Marco said trying to play it cool.

"I was going to ask you that. You guys never came back after Meteora left rehearsal. And also, why are you two wearing dresses?" Star asked.

"Nice," Janna took a picture with her compact. "Knew I'd love seeing Marco in a dress, but this is pure gold."

"They're costumes! For the play!" Meteora covered. "I was self-conscious about wearing it in public and thought I'd quit the play, but Marco said that if he was brave enough to wear that I'd be able to do it too. But I didn't really believe him so I challenged him to wear the dress and walk around in public. And he's right, this is no biggy."

"Oh-kay," Star was a bit dubious. "Well, rehearsal's over and we were going to go get something to eat, you two joining us?"

"I think I'll pass; I'm going to head home and change out of these clothes," Marco said, realizing he's now in a place where people know him and he's wearing a dress. Too many have seen him already.

"Me, too. It's been a stressful few hours," Meteora said before the two practically sprinted away.

"… There's something going on with those two." Tammy stated. All the girls were in agreement.

-00000

Eclipsa was enjoying the book she read with the relaxing sound of heavy metal blasting in the background. She stopped the music when and put down her book when she heard a knock at the door, and it turned out to be none other than her daughter.

"Meteora, so rare to see you visiting me. Almost makes me think you forgot about your mother." She teased, happy to see her daughter.

"Very funny mom, can I come in?"

"Of course, it is rather cold out. What brings you over?"

"Well, I was hoping you'd tell me more stories about dad."

"Really? What brings this up?" Eclipsa was surprised, she hadn't wanted to hear a story about her father in ages.

"Well, I kind of had this… thing, with Marco, and I just sort of realized I'll never be able to meet my dad. So I was hoping you could tell me about him."

"Thing? What's this thing with Marco?" Eclipsa was curious to her daughter's vague use of the pronoun, but then quickly realized that she and Marco are at that age. "Oh sweaty, I understand."

"Wha-? MOM! No, it's not like that!" Meteora argued flusteredly catching on to what her mom was referring to. "He just helped me out with something, will you tell me about dad?"

Eclipsa smiled, happy that her daughter genuinely wanted to know about her father. She guided Meteora to the living room and sat her on the couch. "Well, what do want to know?"

"Everything. All the good things about him, the bad. What he was like, any stupid jokes he had, arguments you guys had. I want to know about him so well that's it's like I met him myself."

"Well, I suppose I should start at the beginning. We first met at the school here, I was a teacher at the time and he was a student. Back then he was a member of the Cornball team and had the nickname the Princess of Darkness, he was quite a ruthless fellow on the field, but a gentle and sweet young man any other time. The two of us had become closely acquainted with each other, but we never had an actual relationship until many years later…"

**You know, I was actually thinking of adding Ponyhead to this story on multiple occasions, most notably this chapter. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it and I don't regret my decision for a second. Ponyhead deserves no attention.**

**Also, after some research, apparently baby Meteora and teen Meteora have two different butterfly forms, so that's confusing.**

**I wasn't too pleased with how this chapter turned out, a couple of things I had to remove from how the original draft was supposed to go, but I hope I still did justice. But still isn't my favourite chapter that I wrote. I'm excited to write the next chapter, this is something I've been thinking of for a while and really want it to turn out well.**

**Bye.**


	12. Bad Romance

Marco breathed in heavily; it was good to be home. Winter break started so he wasted no time in packing his things and moved back to his own dimension. It was nice being back where it was warm and sunny and since he lived in California he's rarely experienced snow, so being in Mewni in winter wasn't his favourite.

He stood in front of his house, beaming. He was excited to see his family again; and nervous. Knowing them they probably planned something in celebration of his return. But he sucked it in and knocked on the door, he could have let himself in but he wanted to see the expression of whoever would answer.

His mother opened the door and stood there stunned.

"Hey mom," he said casually. She screamed in excitement when she realized it wasn't her mind playing tricks on her and hugged Marco in the tightest hug with tears of joy running down her face.

"Ohhh, my baby's back!" Angie cried. "Rafael! It's Marco, he's home!"

"Marco?" His father's face appeared around the corner from the kitchen. He rushed over and joined in the hug. "Son, it is so good to see you! Oh, how we have missed you!"

"Glad to see you too dad," he admitted. And why wouldn't he? He loved his parents no matter how embarrassing they were, which was often. "Where's Mariposa?"

"I'm afraid she's out right now, dear," his mom informed him. "And you're early, we didn't expect you until mid-afternoon."

"Yeah, that was to avoid the big 'Welcome Back' surprise you guys were probably planning. Speaking of…" He looked behind his parents to see a banner was hung that said Welcome Home with balloons hung on either side. He knew his family too well.

"Well, you've gone and ruined our surprise," his dad ran back to the kitchen to return to with a tray of sandwiches that were covered in salsa. "But we can still celebrate."

"Hey, your torta ahogadas!" Marco grabbed a sandwich and bit down, the combination of beans, onions, and pork mixed with the spicy salsa and crispy bread was to die for.

After the meal, Marco went to his room and told his parents he'd tell them all about how school was after unpacking. It was nice to be in a familiar place again. His room was just how he left it, there was his corkboard over his desk that had collatable memories and posters of his favourite movies, old toys on his shelf that he kept around as decorations, Janna and Meteor.

…

"JANNA AND METEORA!?" Marco wasn't sure what to be more surprised about; that his two friends from another dimension were in his room unannounced, or that his two friends from another dimension were in his dimension.

"You have, like, no variety," Janna remarked looking into his closet and seeing only red hoodies.

"Thought for sure there'd be some dirty magazines under here," Meteora looked disappointed looking under Marco's matress.

"What are you two-" Marco stopped himself from shouting and checked the hallway whether his parents had heard him. After no response from them, he closed the door and tried again in a loud whisper.

"What are you two doing here?"

"We thought we'd hang out with you for the break," Janna answered as if they weren't intruding.

"What? Why?"

"The others were doing it."

"… Others? What others?" Marco dreaded.

"Marco, can you come downstairs, please. I think we have guests." He heard his mom call and his heart instantly sank.

He rushed downstairs in frightful expectation and saw Star Butterfly standing in his living room. And not just her, she was accompanied by Jackie, Kelly, and Tam.

"Hey Marco," Star greeted him.

"Wha…? I don't… This is…" Marco stammered trying to form a sentence, but his mind was just too overcome by shock as to why his friends were here. It's not that he wasn't happy to see them, it's just, this was all a little too much for him.

"So these are your friends you've been telling us about," his father said, responding in the opposite manner Marco was.

"You never mentioned how cute they all were," Angie complimented them.

"Thank you, Mrs. Diaz, Marco's told us about how great of parents you guys are," Jackie said in kind.

"Oh look, and there's more," Rafael mentioned noting Meteora and Janna now joining everyone. "Why don't I make snacks."

"What are you all doing here!?" Marco finally managed to find his voice.

"Well, since school's out for a while we're free to go wherever," Star said casually. "And since you've spent the last several months in Mewni with us, we all thought it'd be a fun idea to spend some time on Earth with you."

"But I thought Earth was off-limits? It's not ready for interdimensional connection."

"Yeah, but after proposing the idea to my mom she was on board with us coming here," Meteora said. "Since Earth will one day be introduced to the rest of the universe, it only makes sense that the rest of the universe gets accustomed to it. My mom thought we'd be perfect for the first trial run since we're so closely acquainted with you."

"But what about your families?"

"Well, aunt Eclipsa talked to my parents about it and they thought it'd be okay since I'd have you," Star responded.

"Kelly, Tam, and I were originally going to stay on campus instead of returning to our homes," Jackie replied.

"And my parents are used to me coming and going whenever I please, so their unconcerned." Janna finished.

This was madness. How could a magical butterfly-girl, a mergirl, beast-girl, purple-skinned witch, a half-monster, and a devil all be expected to just visit Earth? They'd cause a panic, questions, all kinds of unwanted attention.

"Oh, doesn't that sound wonderful Marco?" His mom beamed with excitement of having his friends stay with them for a while. This was turning into a disaster and Marco was internally screaming with every second. Then he got a brilliant idea on how to get them out of his hair.

"That's a great idea and all, but where would you live? We only have one guestroom and it wouldn't be able to accommodate all of you." He feigned worry.

"Let me see." Star insisted. Marco proudly led her to the spare room; it was very basic inside with minimal accommodations. There was a bed, a dresser, and a desk. And enough room for everyone if the girls didn't mind sleeping on the floor, which Marco was positive they wouldn't be.

"Sparkle glitter bomb expand!" Star shouted as her hands glowed with magical energy. Then in a blinding flash, the room transformed several times larger with beds and other necessities the girls would need. Marco looked outside the window to see that the side of the house now had a castle tower sticking out the side.

"Oh that's interesting, we were thinking of renovating." Marco could see his dad looking out the first-floor window, admiring the new addition to their home.

"Okay, so they all have a place to stay," Marco said as he and Star returned downstairs. "But mom, what about food, with six other mouths don't you think we'll rub out quickly? Or space, wouldn't this place seem a little cramped?"

"It'll only be for a few days dear," his mom reassured him. "And the more the merrier, isn't that right? Besides, this will just be like when we would have foreign exchange students stay with us." She pointed to a wall that hung around two-dozen pictures that nobody noticed until it was blatantly pointed out to everyone, which seemed strange since it was all very eye-catching. The pictures all had Marco and Mariposa posing with a student from another country their family housed for a time, the girls noted that some of the girls in the photos seemed a little too close with Marco.

He groaned in defeat as the internal screaming grew louder. How possibly, could this get any worse?

"Mom? Dad? Why's has a castle crashed into the side of our home?" Marco's sister, Mariposa was standing in front of the door and stared in confusion at the situation of the extraordinary people in her living room. "And we have guests… or maybe space invaders."

"Marco!" She cried spotting her brother and pouncing on him. The two fell over as she wrapped her arms around him, ecstatic to see her twin again after several months. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"Hey Mari, good to see you too," he admitted giving in to his sister's affection. He no longer had the will to fight anyone now.

"What's going on?" She whispered to him as they got off the floor.

"Mariposa, these are my friends from school I've told you about. Girls, this is my sister, Mariposa."

"Oh my gosh! These are your friends?" She gasped in excitement and started introducing herself to each and every one of them. "Gee Marco, you never mentioned how attractive they were, you got a thing for any of them?"

"Mariposa! Shut up!" He cried trying to get her to quit with the teasing.

"Yeah Marco, you got a thing for any of us?" Meteora joined in, followed by the rest of the girls giggling and chiding him on for an answer.

"Um, this was a bad time, wasn't it?" A new voice said from the doorway. Clearly, this day was full of surprise guests.

She was a short girl with pale skin and green eyes, her hair was brown and cut short in a bob with bangs covering her forehead. She wore a white tee-shirt that clung to her body with green trimming at the ends of her sleeves and skinny jean shorts that went as far as her kneecaps. She had an anxious look to her like she realized she was interrupting something important.

"Oh shoot," Mariposa gasped in alarm having forgotten about her because of the new development of her brother's return and meeting his friends.

"Hey, Marco, look who I met while I was out. It's Chantal, isn't that something? She said she wanted to come over and see you." Mariposa seemed to force the words out in an almost robotic manner like she was nervous about the two meeting.

Marco stood still, his body seemed relaxed, but his muscles were stiff like a statue, you couldn't even tell whether he was breathing or not. The girl rubbed her left arm nervously and avoiding eye contact; her expression said that it was difficult for her to be here. The room went silent as all the visitors looked to the new girl and Marco, confused about the sudden shift in the environment.

"Hi Marco," Chantal squeaked out, finally meeting his gaze.

"Hey Chantal," he greeted in an almost emotionless tone and walked over to properly converse with her. "When'd you get back? Thought you moved to Wyoming."

"I did, but I just arrived back the other night. I thought of spending Christmas with my mom at her place this year since I rarely get to see her." She shrugged and looked away with what looked like shame. While Marco never even blinked, looking at her with an almost sorrowful manner. "This was a bad idea; I'm clearly interrupting something. I should go."

"Chantal, wait!" He grabbed her arm, only for her to swipe her it from his grasp.

"No, Marco, I…" Her voice trailed off, not being able to form the right words. "It's good to see you, but now's not the right time. But I'd like to meet with you again later. Just… when we're ready."

She could be seen quickly walking away from their house, looking uneasy.

"Who… was that?" Kelly finally asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"I still need to unpack. I'll be back in a bit." Marco ignored the question, his voice sounding hollow.

Everyone watched as he carried himself up the stairs, his footsteps could be heard walking down the hall until the sound of his door slamming left everything silent.

"That was Chantal," Mariposa finally answered uneasily. "She's Marco's ex."

-00000

"And that's why we cross the streets when the light is green!" Marco chastised the girls after they fled from the scene of a car crash. No one was injured, and despite his conscious, Marco thought it was best for them to flee the scene since it was Kelly and Meteora who caused it.

"Wow, Earth is really different," Star commented, taking in all the wonder and ignoring the disaster that just happened.

"Yeah, it's a great place," Marco said exasperated. Marco thought that showing a bunch of off-worlders around his town was going to raise a lot of unwarranted attention. Turned out everyone just sort of ignored them, a lot of stares, but no one made a huge fuss or anything.

After the incident with Chantal, Marco disappeared into his room for over an hour, and when he returned, he seemed fine. But everyone could tell that he was masking his feelings, they just had the common courtesy to not ask him anything more than they knew. The girls wanted to explore Earth and his parents insisted that he show them around Echo Creek.

He knew that if he didn't, they'd just go off on their own despite his own and he'd do his best to control the chaos. Other than the cross-walk, everything went fine. Much better than what he initially expected actually.

Marco was just happy he had his sister there with them. She decided to join for the two reasons for not having seen her brother in several months and wanting to meet his new friends.

"Okay, so on our next stop, I'm going to introduce you girls to some of the coolest dudes in all of Echo Creek." Marco boasted as they walked down a street.

"Oh no," Mariposa groaned recognizing the road they were on and whispered to her brother. "Marco, I highly advise that you don't introduce your friends to those two; you know, if you still want to have friends after this."

"Mari, I know you don't like them all that much, but they're my friends and I'd like to see them." He looked behind him to see the gaggle of girls following them. "Besides, it's only a matter of time before they learn I'm back, and how do you expect me to explain this to them?"

"Okay, okay," she gave in. "I just really don't want to see Ferguson. He always tries to hit on me and it creeps me out."

"I know," he said recounting the numerous times Ferguson tried, and failed, to get his sister to go out with him. The two shuddered at the thought of the time he asked Mariposa on a date by drawing a face on his stomach.

"Girls, I'd like you to meet my two closest friends, Alfonzo and Ferguson!" He directed their attention to two guys setting up a table in a garage. "Hey, guys, I'm back!"

"MARCO!" The two cried in unison seeing him. They rushed over and gave their long-lost friend a hug.

"Oh, dude, we missed you so much!" Ferguson said.

"Yeah, it's just not been the same without you," Alfonzo added.

"Hey, I missed you guys too." He admitted. "And I'd like you to meet my friends from Mewni. This is Star, Tam, Jackie, Janna, Meteora and Kelly."

The two gasped seeing the troupe that accompanied him.

"Marco, what is this?" Ferguson asked, sounding hurt. "We knew you'd make other friends, but of so many hotties and not telling us about it?"

"It's like you left us behind," Alfonzo held onto Ferguson for support. "You've replaced us and have moved on with your life."

"We've been forgotten Alfonzo," Ferguson said holding his now only friend close to him. "Marco's forgotten all about us. He's moved on to better pastures."

"Oh, the humanity!" The two wept into one another.

"What? No!" Marco cried wanting to straighten everything out. "You guys are my best friends in the whole world, I couldn't abandon you."

"It's okay, we're just messing with you," Alfonzo said normally as the two broke apart, lifting the charade. "We know you'd never do that Marco. We even made a new DnD group while you were gone. There they are now."

Alfonzo pointed to four people who just appeared as if out of nowhere; and aesthetically speaking, they looked way cooler than the three guys combined.

"Hey," one of the girls from the new group greeted.

"Wait, what? These people play DnD?" Marco asked baffled.

"Yeah, it turns out it's actually considered to be cool among some groups," Ferguson informed.

"We were about to start a new campaign; you and your friends want to join?" Alfonzo insisted.

"Yeah Mariposa, you want to change up the pace and play in the major leagues? Don't worry, I'll be there to help you." Ferguson said, thinking he was acting smooth and cool.

She stared at him uncomfortably. "Marco, I'm just going to meet you guys at Britta's Tacos."

"Okay, yeah, I get it. You have things to do. I'll catch you later" Ferguson called out as she quickly walked off in the distance.

"Thanks, guys," Marco said relieved that his friends were doing just as fine as he was while he's been gone. "But I promised the girls I'd introduce them to the wonders of tacos. Maybe next time."

Marco and his friends said their goodbyes, happy to see each other were doing so well. Just as Mariposa said, she was at Britta's Tacos ahead of the group, waiting for their arrival. All the girls sat at a table while Marco was getting everyone tacos.

"Barfo!" Marco jumped at the voice behind him.

"Brittney? You nearly gave me a heart attack," he said clutching his chest to calm his pounding heart. "What are you doing here? Come to get tacos too?"

Brittney wretched at the sight of the platter of tacos that were serviced at the window. "As if I would ever eat from this disgusting third rate restaurant. I can just feel the air here is already clogging my pores. But the real reason I'm here is to see you."

"Me? Why? I thought we were square since, you know, last time..." He reminded her of the catastrophe at the party that could have ruined her life. "And how'd you find me?"

She showed him her phone and there was a picture of a car crash, their group could clearly be seen fleeing from the scene.

"After that, it was just some rudimentary and annoying process of finding you. I'm putting way too much effort into this."

"Well if you had something to say why not just phone me? You have my number."

"Barfo, I may be a snobby and cold-hearted bitch, but I still have tact. And honestly, you look to be holding up way better than I expected you to."

"Uh, thanks, but what are you talking about?" Brittney looked surprised realizing they weren't on the same page.

"You mean, Chantal hasn't told you?" Brittney sounded concerned. Not conceited or aggravated like usual, but genuinely concerned.

"Told me what? And how'd you know Chantal's back? Has she spoken to you too?" Then he remembered that favour Brittney demanded she do for him. "Wait, Chantal said she came back to spend the winter with her mom. Was that a lie?"

"Well, I wouldn't say it's not the whole truth. But yes, I did look her up and told her to come back to Echo Creek to see you."

"Why? I told you to drop it." He reminded her. So this was the real reason Chantal came back? Because Brittney told her to, because of something she had to talk to him about?

"I know you did Marco, but she needs to talk with you." She used his real name that time, that made Marco feel uneasy. Not because Brittney acknowledged him, but because that described the severity of the situation. "Honestly, I thought she would have told you right away. I don't blame her for not though."

"What is it she needs to tell me, Brittney?"

"That's… that's not for me to say, Marco," she said solemnly and departed.

"Brittney," Marco called out before she had gone too far. "Thanks, I guess."

"Don't go thanking me yet Marco. You're not going to like it."

"Hey, was that Brittney?" Kelly asked as Marco delivered everyone's meal.

"What did she want?" Mariposa asked with a mouthful of taco.

"She wanted… to thank us for the party fiasco. She's just too stubborn to do it publicly." He jokingly lied as his mind stewed on her words. Marco now knew something was coming, something dreadful.

-00000

"You can't do this, you're my sister!" Marco begged as she stood overtop him.

"Fool!" Mariposa cried dramatically. "I'm not just you're sister, I'm your twin! We're twins linked by cursed genes. Les enfants terribles! You're fine, you got all the dominant genes. I got all the flawed, recessive genes. Everything was done so you would be the greatest of the children. The only reason I exist is so they could create you! I'm just the leftovers of what they used to make you! Can you understand what it's like to know that you're garbage since the day you were born? But I will surpass you… and DESTROY YOU!"

"You're just like her," Marco said, seeing the insanity in his sister's eyes.

"Well I'm not like you!" She snapped back. "Unlike you, I'm proud of the destiny that is encoded into my very genes!"

"Nooooo!" Marco cried in horror as his sister's arm came down on him, and a pillow stuck his face.

"Wooo! We win!" Mariposa cheered lifting both fists in the air victoriously. Meteora and Janna joined her in celebration; at long last, a victor was decided in perhaps the most legendary and dramatic pillow fights in all of history. None who participated would come out of the war the same person they went in as.

"Okay, okay, you guys win." Marco removed the pillow from his face happy to be done.

Marco had been worried in the last few days that having the others around would be difficult, but it turned out that they were able to get accustomed to Earth life easily. Marco wasn't sure why that was strange for him to think, after all, he got accustomed to Mewni life quickly. There were the odd miscommunications now and again, but for the most part, the girls settled in quite fine, and Mariposa's been getting close with them too which made Marco happy.

Marco looked at his watch as it beeped, it was almost 9:00 o'clock. "Hey, the movies going to start soon. Everyone downstairs!"

They all rushed down and gathered in front of the television. Marco and Mariposa were excited to show them Ghostfighters. I movie about a group of scientific warriors that protect their city from ghosts and the supernatural by punching the life back into them. A stupid movie in concept, but an absolute treat to view.

Before the movie started there was a knock at the door. Wondering who that could be at this hour, Marco answered it, only for his smile to fade.

It was none other than his ex-girlfriend Chantal.

For the last few days, she'd be in the back of Marco's mind, worried about what it was Brittney had called her back to tell him. Maybe now it was time to find out.

"Hi Marco," she greeted timidly.

"Hi Chantal," he replied all the same. "What brings you around? We were about to watch a movie if you're interested."

"Thanks, but I was hoping I could talk to you, alone, if that's alright?" He followed her out onto his front lawn, he knew something was coming, something dreadful. They stood in the cool air, Marco waiting for her to say something, to say what it was she needed to say. But for the longest time, Chantal was having difficulty finding her voice.

"Marco, I-"

"Hold that thought," he cut in and picked up a small stone and threw it on the other side of the roof, where they could hear a voice whining in pain as the rock hit someone hiding up there.

"Mariposa, are you up there?" He knew his sister all too well, she'd definitely be hiding to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"No," she clearly replied knowing she's already been caught.

"Are the others up there with you?"

"… No." She was a terrible liar.

"Maybe we can take a walk, where we'll have some privacy."

"Sure, we can do that." Chantal agreed.

The two walked down the sidewalk, both looking away from the other not saying a thing. The situation was too tense, too awkward. She had something important to say to him, something that terrified him from how Brittney described it.

"Marco, I-"

"You hurt me." He cut her off again. He was scared to hear what she had to say, but he also had something to say to her, and he knew he wouldn't get a chance to say it if he let her go first. "You really hurt me, Chantal. You just ended up ghosting me, you left for Wyoming without so much as a warning. All I got from you was a text message, and then you blocked me on everything and even got a new number; you just disappeared on me. And for a long time, I blamed myself. I thought you left because you were angry at me, that you hated me. I was never angry at you, only at myself because I thought I wasn't being a good enough boyfriend to you."

He stopped walking and grabbed Chantal's hand, but she refused to look at him.

"It really messed me up inside, but I eventually got through it, and I thought I was over you. But then you came back, and all that pain I felt when you left, all that joy when you were around, it all came back to me. I thought I was over you, I really did, but seeing you again, it just made me realize, that I think I still have feelings for you. I… I think I still love you, Chantal. I'm just sorry I wasn't good enough for you."

She muttered something under her breath, something Marco couldn't hear properly and asked her to repeat herself.

"I didn't love you!" She screamed pulling her hand away from him. That shocked Marco, more than shocked, it horrified him to hear. But something more surprising was the look she gave him. It wasn't a hateful look, or resentful. Despite what she said, her expression said differently. She didn't fight the tears that flowed down her remorseful expression.

"I didn't love you, Marco, not at first. Remember how we first got together? I asked you to tutor me because I was having difficulty in class, it was actually just an excuse to get close to you, but you never asked me out so I had to be the one. You weren't good enough for me? Marco, you were perfect! You were kind, funny, considerate, you were everything I could have asked for a boyfriend. But you know what our relationship was? A lie! I only asked you out because of a joke, this stupid prank my friends and I thought of. Think about it Marco, you were at the bottom of the social chain in our school, and as a close friend of Brittney's I was at the top; in what world did you think you had a chance with me? We all thought it would be funny for one of us to start dating one of you guys and then dump you out of the blue to publicly humiliate you. You were the unfortunate soul chosen and I was the one that drew the short straw. It was all just a stupid, cruel joke we thought would be hilarious. But you know what happened while we dated? I actually started to like you, and I just couldn't do it, I couldn't follow through with the plan, because I fell for you Marco, I fell hard! And I was happy being together with you. But the guilt kept eating away at me until it was too unbearable, every time I saw you it was a reminder of why we got together in the first place. I couldn't keep going without telling you, but I also didn't want to hurt you, so I ran, I ran away! But I couldn't bear to say goodbye to you, so I left without telling you. The options I left myself ith were leaving without a word or telling you the truth. I knew leaving without saying anything would hurt you too, but I didn't know how I could live with myself if I stayed. I was damning myself and hurting you no matter what I did, I just thought I was picking the less of two evils! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Marco stood there speechless as Chantal open sobbed, completely dismayed by the revelation that was confessed to him. He wondered just how much of their relationship was a lie? When did it turn real? He had liked her from the beginning, but to know that she only got together with him as a joke, one orchestrated by Brittney most likely, cut him deep. Deeper than when she left. But he didn't hate her, didn't resent her, didn't feel pity.

"It's okay," his voice was weak as he held Chantal close to his body to comfort her. He didn't try and hide how he felt, he was hurt worse than he ever had been, but he didn't want to push her away. "It's okay. I forgive you. You're right, it hurt me a lot when you left, and it hurts now that you've told me everything. But now that I do know, I don't care. Chantal, what I care about is how we feel now. Even after all that, I still want to be with you. I don't care that it all started as a lie because it was real to me. Because I loved you, I still love you, and if you still love me, then I'm okay Chantal… I'm okay."

"Damn you," she cursed sobbing into his chest. "Why can't you just hate me? Why can't you hate me like how I hate me? Why can't you just make this easier for yourself?"

He had no answer for her, he just felt he couldn't bring himself to hate her, no matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn't. He didn't have it in him to hate.

After some time, Chantal was able to compose herself again and pulled away from Marco, but not far enough that he couldn't keep holding her. She looked into his eyes to see wet trails to had run down his own face. Were they from the pain of the betrayal? Grief? Or perhaps empathy?

"I do still love you, Marco, I really do. But I can't be with Marco," she confessed. "I can't come back to Echo Creekpretend nothing happened. You may be able to forgive me, but I can't. Please, let me go. You're too perfect for someone like me."

He refused her; he didn't let her go; he didn't want to lose her again. But she still slipped from his grasp, not as if it was difficult from his loose grip on her. She slid away from him and said something he didn't quite hear her say despite her speaking clearly and the lack of any other noises. He didn't want to hear those words, his mind refused to acknowledge them. He didn't want whatever words she said to be real. He wanted to reach out, grab her again, hold tightly and never let go, but his legs refused to move as he watched her slip away into the night, probably the last time they'd ever see each other again.

He didn't know when or how, but at some point, he made it back home.

"Hey, how'd it go? What'd you guys talk about?" His sister asked as all the girls looked at him with delicate curiosity. But he didn't answer, never even met any of their eyes. He wordlessly carried himself to room like a zombie, each footstep sounded heavier than they were as he walked upstairs. He had lost the strength to stand the moment he closed his bedroom door and propped his body against it.

He pulled out his phone and stared at it. The bright light shining on his face was the only thing illuminating his room. He stared at the last message he ever got from Chantal.

_Marco, I'm moving to Wyoming to live with my dad. I'm sorry I'm springing this on you now, but by the time you're reading this, I've already left. I'm sorry I never told you this sooner but I can't be with you anymore. I know what you're going to do, but please don't blame yourself. I'm sorry I can't tell you why I'm moving, but maybe one day I'll tell you when I'm ready… when we're both ready. Just know that I do love you and wish I was there with you now, but I can't keep doing this. Please don't try and contact me, it'll only make things harder._

_Take care of yourself…_

He now understood her message, how it really wasn't his fault. But even so, why did he still feel guilty? And if he really loved her, why didn't he try harder to get her back? He didn't know the answers to his own questions. He didn't understand himself.

His fingers moved on their own and deleted the message, then proceeded to do the same to the hundreds of other texts they shared with each other until he deleted the whole chain in one go. He deleted everything in his phone relating to Chantal: messages, her number, all the pictures he took with her. He deleted everything until there was one final photo. The picture of them at the park in front of the fountain, they looked so happy in that photo.

He remembered that they were originally supposed to go to a party Chantal told him about more than a week in advance, but at the last minute, she wanted to skip it and instead spend the day with him, doing whatever he wanted. It was the best day they had together, but looking back, maybe now he knew why she decided to cancel the original plans.

The picture vanished, deleted from his phone like all the rest. The phone made a hard bang as it hit his floor, and Marco just sat in his room looking into the darkness.

Eventually, he let it out, all his pain and sorrow spilt out of him, unable to hold it back. And it felt like something inside of him just broke.

Little to his knowledge, were seven figures at the top of the stairs, silently listening from down the hall. They could all hear him, each wanting to go inside and comfort him, see what was wrong. But they all knew that he wouldn't want to see them now, they knew there wasn't anything they could do for him but wait.

**So a notes on a few topics this time:**

**I really hope the sentence structure and emotional impact was good. I'm just going to be conceited and say I'm sure many of you liked the climax of the chapter, but for me, it didn't feel as personal or gripping as my mind had made it out to be before writing it. I'll probably never be satisfied with it much like how many artists haven't been satisfied with certain artworks no matter how much others praise it to be. It's good, close to what I was aiming for, but not exactly, not how I wanted it. **

**I've never played any of the Metal Gears. I just thought it'd be fun to throw in Liquid's speech when he revealed he and Solid were cloned twins of Big Boss. Ghostfighters is a concept I based loosely off of Ghostbusters and any movie that punches the life back into the dead or undead is worth my money.**

**Also, back when they had that official SVTFOE AMA, it was confirmed that, through magic, the painting (or ghost) of captain Alphonse was talking to Marco during the Blood Moon. As far as we know Solaria never married or only ever married for political power, but she did leave with Alphonse to sea and came back with Eclipsa, so obviously they're trying to hint who her dad is but not give it the 100% official stamp. So my headcanon is that Solaria and Alphonse were both affected blood moon too, so it was the moon (or 'Alphonse') speaking to Marco. It makes sense when you connect the dots like that.**

**Also I feel like I do a pretty good job of titling these chapters, but this time I think it fell kind of flat and I couldn't think of anything better than a Lady Gaga song. Seriously, if anyone thinks of anything better I'll change it to your suggestion.**

**Bye.**


	13. Hypertonic Liontamer

Marco groaned loudly in dismay as his head lay flat on the table; his mind was plagued with horrid thoughts of the near future.

"What's wrong with him?" Tam asked seeing Marco's state.

"Midterm exam," Kelly answered as she and Star tried consoling him.

"Is that all?" Janna scoffed, a bit odd that Marco would feel anxious about a test since he was the most attentive student she knew. "I mean, I get that it stresses people out, but isn't Marco always prepared?"

"Yeah, but it's for Combat class," Star clarified. "For the exam, we're randomly partnered up with another student and have a match."

"And as luck would have it, I was partnered with Higgs!" Marco complained keeping his face firmly planted in the table's surface.

"Yikes," Tam winced. "That's rough buddy."

"That's not even the worst party!" Marco finally lifted himself up, the look of dread and panic painted his face. "The problem with it is that even if you lose, you don't fail! The objective is for both students to exercise and perform what they've learnt and demonstrate how they've progressed, the longer a match is the better the chances of both students passing. But Higgs has it in for me! She's going to beat me in the first five seconds!" Marco's face fell back into its spot on the table with a loud thud, he had given up.

"And that's if she even gives him that long," Kelly said trying to console him. "She's been terrorizing and humiliating him all year long since their first match. Even though Marco didn't win, the thought that Higgs didn't beat him **and** that he was able to gain the upper hand for a moment has pissed her off ever since."

"Yeah, she's been constantly pulling petty pranks and fighting way too rough with Marco," Star said angrily at the thoughts. "Marco's never been able to fight back!"

"Well, why's he moping like this? Why isn't he training right now with you two to better prepare himself?" Janna asked. "I'd even help coach, how long until your exam?"

"It'll be in…" Marco lifted his face off the table to look at his watch. "Ten minutes."

"Ooooh," Tam exclaimed. "It's been nice knowing you."

"Sure sounds like you have it rough kid," a voice said as Marco felt a slap to the back of his head.

"Hekapoo? Why are you here?" Star asked surprised to see their teacher.

"Well I was heading to class to give a lecture, but then I saw Marco here wallowing in self-pity and had to see what this was about." She answered coyly, amused to see Marco's pitiful state; he didn't even get off the table when she slapped him. "So he's doomed to fail the exam because he's not good enough to beat his opponent, huh? Too bad I don't know of a method to help you get a lot strong in a short amount of time. Oh wait, I totally do."

"Say what?" Marco turned around to face Hekapoo, her smug expression said everything that he had taken the bait and was just about wrapped around her fingers. "What do you mean you know of a method to make me stronger"

"Why do you want to know, you interested?"

"I don't know," he said warry of any ulterior motives that Hekapoo may have. "It sounds a bit like cheating to me, I'm pretty skeptical Hekapoo."

"Look, I promise you, this is 100% certifiable. Look," the teacher opened a fiery portal. "Just step through here and you'll see. Come on, in and out, it'll be a quick ten-minute adventure."

Marco weighed his options; on one hand: get his butt kicked and humiliated by a classmate who would take devilish pleasure in his beating and fail his exam, one the other: Hekapoo's games.

"Okay Hekapoo," he decided getting off of the table. "If this can truly help, I'm in."

"Marco, you sure?" Star whispered pulling him closer to her.

"What do I have to lose? If I don't go, I'm sure to fail. And if I think it's a method that's too much like cheating then I'll decline. It'll be okay."

"No, I mean, are you sure it's okay to go with her? I don't get the most… innocent vibes from her. At least with someone like Janna you have an idea of what you're getting into." She wasn't wrong. Hekapoo has gotten friendlier towards Marco. Sometimes just a casual greeting, other times it's a bit of mischievous play.

He wasn't against her new attitude as opposed to how she acted towards him in the beginning, in fact, for some of the stuff he played along with her. But Marco was convinced Star's worries were just distrust.

"It'll be okay," he reassured her stepping towards the portal. "What could ten minutes harm?"

-00000

"Hekapoo, where are we?" Marco asked looking at a desolate landscape of dead trees, volcanoes in the distance, and green clouds sheeting the sky.

"Welcome, Marco, to the Neverzone." Her voice echoed through the air, the word echoing off in the distance. "It's where I like to come every once and a while."

"Okay, that's cool, but where are we?" He asked for better clarification. "What is this place and why are we here? What is it that's here that'll make me stronger?"

"Okay, sit down and take a load off, it'll be a bit tricky to explain."

"Hekapoo, I have ten minutes, I can't sit here while you give me a lecture."

"That's the beauty of it, Marco, you do have the time now. You see, the Neverzone is a dimension outside of space and time. Here, time runs at a slower pace than other dimensions."

"… How much slower?" Marco sat on a stump conveniently placed nearby.

"Approximately 1/1,051,200 times slower," she admits thinking hard. "Basically, every second out there will equal to 12 days her."

The possibilities hit Marco all at once. A week was less than a second! Just what could he accomplish if he stade for a year?

"But what about when I go back?" He asked concerned. "What if I stay too long, won't I be older? Wouldn't that raise questions?"

"No worries," she reassured him. A humanoid figurine made of fire appeared in the palm of her hand. "You see, the Neverzone isn't just special in the way that it's slower than other dimensions, any outsider that comes in, no matter how long they spend here, once they leave their body will revert back to the moment it left." The flame figure danced in her hand to her exposition, jumping through a loop and growing bigger, then jumped through again to turn back into the smaller figure it was originally.

"But how does that work?"

"With magic." She said matter-of-factly as the flame figure extinguished.

"… You don't actually know do you?"

"No, it really is! Look, to understand how that works, you need to understand how the Neverzone was created. You see, this dimension is my passion project, my own little brain baby. I wanted to artificially create a dimension, but I can't create something from nothing, so I needed space; that's where my colleague Omnitraxis Prime came in. He was able to create a space for me where I could begin constructing. Since then I've been creating and adding on to the point where life started moving on its own. This world soon created its own environment, ecosystem, and even organisms. And that all evolved into what you see now."

"Okay… but that still doesn't explain the time dilation or how I can spend a lifetime here and return to my former body when I leave."

"Hm? Oh, yeah, right. Omnitraxis had to create this place outside of normal space-time, so it doesn't abide by the laws of the rest of the universe."

"By the way, do you have your scissors?"

"Uh, yeah." Marco pulled out his scissors and presented them to Hekapoo, who swiftly stole them from him. "Hey!"

"First things first, you're not leaving here until I say so, so there's no turning back now. But if you want them back, you'll have to take them from me." She stored the scissors in between her cleavage with the end poking out, tempting Marco to reach in. "Okay, next up, I'll be giving you a crash course of the most important things you need to know about this dimension today, but tomorrow, training starts. Come on, you'll be staying at my place while you're here."

"Your place? What do you mean your-?" Marco cut himself off as his attention was brought to a giant dead tree stump with a door and flumes of smoke coming out the chopped off hole. "You live here?"

"Sometimes," she admitted opening the door. "I like to come here and spend a few years to get away from it all. That, and I come here to mark papers I had forgotten about before class."

"Wait, is this where you go when you suddenly disappear saying you forget our papers in your office?" Marco asked.

"Guilty~," she sang playfully and sat Marco down again, this time on a stone bench. "Okay, the things you need to know about the Neverzone. First: wolf-bears, totally a thing and you should definitely avoid them. Second: this place has some crazy weather…"

**DAY 2**

"Come on! Keep running!" Hekapoo demanded running behind Marco who was running with all his might.

Hekapoo was like a drill instructor from hell. Coach River at least encourage the students on, Hekapoo just told him to keep going or face consequences. Which was a light lashing from a whip, why did she have a whip?

Since the morning he had to complete a thousand push-ups, a thousand sit-ups, held a sitting stance with arms stretched out for over an hour, and has been forced to run at full sprint for maybe an hour now. It was amazing he hadn't collapsed from exhaustion yet, supposedly it was something between the avoidance of the whip and willpower to keep moving forward.

"Okay, that's good enough for now, take a break," Hekapoo said now in a calm voice. Marco collapsed immediately face first, not even slowing down or stopping his descent. He simply collapsed to the ground hyperventilating. "Okay, you can have a few minutes to catch your breath, after that, the real training begins."

"Wait, real training?" He asked in between breaths. "What was all that before?"

"Warm-ups, obviously."

Marco regretted his decision to come to the Neverzone and just wished he had taken a beating from Higgs.

**DAY 142**

"Keep moving!" Hekapoo advised Marco who was stuck in one spot by a barrage of attacks from all angles as he faced her and a few clones. All he had to defend himself was with a dull sword that Hekapoo gave him for training purposes. He did well, but nothing spectacular as his face caught her boot, and down he went like a sack of potatoes. Hekapoo sighed.

"See? If you kept moving you wouldn't have gotten surrounded and this wouldn't have happened… Marco? Hey, Marco, you good?" She checked him to find that that last kick had rendered him unconscious and she sighed again. "Out like a light. I'll draw on his face a little bit as punishment."

**DAY 561**

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"You're climbing that mountain."

Marco looked up. It was a 90-degree cliff with jagged edges and vulture-like creatures circling above waiting for some unfortunate soul to fall to its death.

"I mean, do I really have to?"

"NOW DIAZ!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

**DAY 1438**

"That was stupid. You're stupid." Hekapoo chastised Marco as she bandaged his eye. "What was the first thing I told you about this place? Don't mess with the wolf-bears. How difficult is that?"

"There was only the one… until the others showed up." Marco pouted.

"For crying out loud Marco, you could have lost your eye. You're a weak fleshy human, eyes don't regrow for you."

"… Thanks, Hekapoo,"

"Just don't make me worry like that again, okay?"

**DAY 1999**

"Look, it really isn't as bad as you're making it out to be."

"ISN'T AS BAD?" Hekapoo shouted furiously, the flame atop her head was massive. "Marco, you nearly destroyed an entire civilization all for a stupid sword! How is that not bad?"

"I mean sure, but I gave it back to them, didn't I?" Marco defended himself nervously.

"Marco, your actions have consequences. You nearly let a fire demon loose into the world, what if you had failed?"

"I understand, things got way out of hand. But things are okay now. Please forgive me H-poo?"

Her face was scrunched and red with anger and the giant fireball on her head exploded into a pillar. When she was done with her outburst she visibly calmed down and the fire was now a small flame again.

"Let's just go home." She grumbled. "And you know how I feel about you calling me that."

**DAY 2613**

"Today for training, we're playing my favourite game," Hekapoo smirked devilishly.

"Hekapoo, no," Marco pleaded, horrified at the news.

"Hekapoo, yes!" The woman sped behind Marco, too fast for him to keep track of and she slapped him on the back of the head. She cried out that he was tagged as she ran off before he could react, laughing with glee.

**DAY 3159**

Marco's head hurt and tried to recall the last thing that happened since he didn't remember retiring to his bed. As he came to, he noticed that he wasn't in his bed, but definitely in the hideout. He tried to sit up, but something pulled on his body.

Lo and behold, to his great surprise and utter confusion was Hekapoo, sleeping soundly and cuddling with him. Marco's face grew hot, and not due to the flame on Hekapoo's tiara being right next to him.

Why was he in her bed? What happened yesterday? Why was she holding on to him? What is this sticky stuff on him? Why was Marco naked?

He checked under the covers. WHY WERE THEY BOTH NAKED!?

Marco noticed she was waking up due to his rapid shifting.

"Hekapoo, what's going on?" He panicked, his chest moving from rapid breathing. "Why are we in your bed? Did we…?"

She calmly sat up, pulling the sheets with her to keep her bare chest covered and lifted a finger in front of Marco's face.

"Keep your eyes on my finger." She said calmly.

"What?"

"Do it!" She demanded. He followed her orders, keeping track of her finger as it moved around. "How's your vision? Is it blurry or difficult to concentrate?"

"No," he answered as she dropped her finger.

"How's your head?"

"Hurts; Hekapoo what's going on?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Um, we were training, I think?

"Yeah, we were." Hekapoo slid out of bed, dragging the sheet with her. Marco grabbed a pillow to hide his member as Hekapoo disappeared behind a changing screen.

"There was an earthquake and the ground split from under you and threw you into the freezing river where you hit your head on a rock. I bandaged you up and dragged you back, you're heavy, you know that? I stripped you so your clothes could dry and climbed in to share my body heat else you would have caught hypothermia." She appeared from the screen back in her clothes, starring at Marco like he wasn't sitting naked on her bed. "Your clothes should be dry by now; I'll grab them for you. We'll go easy today, I think you were able to avoid a concussion, but let's not take any chances."

She left him in her room, leaving him speechless and with a pillow on his crotch.

"… Wait, you haven't explained what this stuff on me is!"

**DAY 3861**

"Wow, thanks H-poo," Marco admired his new jacket. It was black leather with spikes on the shoulders. "Feel kind of bad I haven't gotten you anything."

"Don't sweat it, you were seriously in need of something new." Marco looked at his coat. It was old, raggedy, torn up everywhere, and much of the red colour had faded. He stripped it off and donned his new attire. It fit him perfectly.

"How do I look?" He asked.

"Mmm, missing something. Ah, I know!" She snapped her fingers and swiped the old coat from him. Her scissors appeared in her other hand and she began cutting the coat.

"Wait, those things can actually cut material?"

"Marco, they're scissors that cut through space, obviously they can cut through physical material." She deadpanned. She finished cutting up his jacket and placed it around his neck. "That looks better. Red looks good on you."

She cut off the front and sleeves, shaping it to look more like a hooded cape.

"Cool," he said, admiring her handiwork.

**DAY 4312**

Marco was forced to silently contain his frustration as he piggybacked a rather drunk Hekapoo. He didn't even know where she got the alcohol, she just disappears once every few months and comes back totally hammered.

"~So raise a glass to the fal*hic*len and forgotten, the gruesome and begotten~" She sang in a drunken stupor, fully enjoying the ride.

All Marco could do was sigh and put up with it. He finally got to their base and kicked the door in.

"Marcoooo~" Hekapoo whined. "My drink vanished, help me find it~."

"Your drink's not missing Hekapoo, you downed it." He attempted to explain, but knowing how deep into it she was, she wasn't going to listen.

"Oh, wait!" Hekapoo opened a small portal and reached her hand into it, rummaging around trying to grab something.

Marco helped her into her bed, absolutely done with her and just wanted her to sleep.

"Found you!" She said thrilled pulling a new bottle of alcohol from the portal.

"Hekapoo! No!" Marco wrestled her, trying to pry the bottle from her grasp.

"No! It's mine!" She complained, acting like a toddler who was having her toy taken away.

After a lengthy struggle, Hekapoo gave up trying to keep the bottle and instead forced it into Marco's mouth. The taste was cool and refreshing, but also rather foamy and somewhat bitter. He pulled back, coughing up the refreshment that assaulted him. That was his first time tasting beer.

"Oh, come one, you can do better than that." Hekapoo criticized shoving the bottle in his face.

"Hekapoo, stop! You're drunk!"

"I am, and I still wanna drink but ha-*hic* have no one to drink with. So your drinkin' with me." She slurred.

"Okay, fine!" He stole the bottle from her hand. "If I have one drink with you, you'll go to bed?"

"Yeah, yeah, totally." She agreed, pulling a second beer bottle from the dimension.

Marco didn't want to drink, he's never before and seeing Hekapoo's state he really didn't feel like trying. But if it got her to bed any time faster, he'd be willing to try.

**DAY 4313**

The two sat at the dinner table, both barely awake and completely miserable. They each had massive hangovers and neither knew why they were wearing the other's clothing.

**DAY 4714**

"Hey big guy, you almost done?" Hekapoo asked Marco as he was getting through his daily routine.

"One more set," he grunted pushing a boulder nearly twice his size towards the sky. After repeating the action a few more times he dropped it beside him, making a loud thud. He got up off the ground, his body dirty and sweaty from his workout.

"Here, clean yourself off," she tossed him a towel.

"Thanks," he said accepting it, she couldn't help but giggle as he wiped himself off. "What?"

"Nothing, just, I'm amazed at how long it's been. You're not much of a kid anymore, now are you?" She noted at the muscular body he's developed. "Look, you're even taller than I am now."

"I certainly have gone through a growth spurt, haven't I?" Marco was no longer a scrawny child, now he was a well-built man-tank made of flesh. Forearms the size of an average male's thigh, broad shoulders and a wide chest with glorious pecks, and the cherry on top, a sweet set of rock hard six-pack abs.

Even Hekapoo found herself weak in the knees staring at his chiselled, sweaty body.

"Mmm, mama like." She thought aloud ogling at his naked chest.

"What was that?" Marco asked, genuinely missing what she said.

"Uh, nothing! Shut up! Move that well-toned ass of yours, we got work to do!"

**DAY 5395**

"Uh-oh," Marco said, alarmed at their approaching doom. Due to various circumstances involving panthers, a squirrel, and a balloon, she and Marco were now tied to a log and currently floated down a river.

"Don't tell me. We're about to go over a huge waterfall?" Hekapoo asked, unable to see what Marco was referring to.

"Yep,"

"Sharp rocks at the bottom?"

"Most likely."

"… Bring it on."

**DAY 5882**

Marco beat on a training dummy. The years of striking it had worn down the bark and torn at the wood underneath. He had never once neglected his karate training, improving upon and adjusting for optimal damage while exerting the least amount of effort. Even adding things he'd learned from his years of training into the mix to create his own variation.

With one finishing punch, he split the thick log in half with his fist, the years of gruelling punishment had toughened his hands to the point where he barely felt any pain when he punched through it.

By the time the log had hit the ground, Marco had pivoted around and unsheathed his training sword, slashing through three different training logs. To the naked eye, it had looked like he missed, but the force of his slashes sent dust and dead leaves flying due to the wind pressure. Soon after, each log had lost its grip and the top halves fell, leaving a smooth cut behind from where he slashed them.

A slow rhythmic clapping could be heard.

"Well done, you've improved immensely these last few years," Hekapoo complimented him.

"All thanks to you, never would have made it this far without your training H-Poo."

"Don't call me that," she said, more in a playful manner than a warning, she had gotten used to the nickname a long time ago, but still verbally refuses to admit it. She handed Marco an object covered in a yellow cloth, whatever it was. "This is for you, a congratulatory gift."

He unveiled his gift to find it was his scissors she took from him.

"My scissors? Kind of cheap to give me back what's rightfully mine and call it a gift." He joked.

"You're present isn't the scissors themselves, I added a special feature to them. Hold them and think that you want them to be bigger." He did as she instructed, and the scissors caught on fire and transformed into a sword. The blade was curved and glinted from the shine as he examined it with wonder and amazement. The base had an engraving of a dragon's head breathing fire while the handle stayed the same design. The crossguard and hilt bent inwards with a gap in between and a small flame at the center at the top of the handle.

"I remembered how you like that sword that sealed that fire demon away. You remember, the one you accidentally let loose and nearly destroyed a kingdom?"

"I remember," he chuckled as she reminded him of his blunder. What an adventure that was!

"Just be careful with them. I'm giving you a one-of-a-kind special pair of dimensional scissors, I trust you enough that you won't use it inappropriately."

"Thanks, Hekapoo, this really is amazing, but what's the occasion for? You said it was a congratulatory gift, what are we celebrating?"

"You're graduation. You're done. It's over. I have nothing else to teach you. You survived my training from hell, and most importantly you survived me. You're ready to go back."

"Oh? I got a sword for surviving your training, is that it? So what do I get for surviving you?" He toyed, leaning closer to her to the point that their faces were inches apart.

"Don't push your luck buster," she said, pushing his face away from hers.

Marco's smile didn't fade or change, but it more shifted, his expression just ever so slightly went from appreciation to apprehension. Something that didn't escape Hekapoo's attention.

"What's the matter?"

"It's just that, it's been so long for me, I don't know if I can go back. Or if I want to." He admitted, his smile faded and faced away from her, looking to the horizon. "I've lived here for half my life, I've got used to a new cycle. There's still so much to this world for me to see. So much just waiting for me to explore and discover."

"And there are people back home waiting for you too," Hekapoo pointed out dropping her playful manner.

"Yeah but, the time dilation. I could spend the rest of my life here and not even an hour would have gone by. It'd be fine."

"You could spend the rest of your **natural** life here. But if you die here, you die. End of story. How could I justify bringing back the dead body of a student?" He didn't answer, didn't even turn to face her. "Marco? Do you even remember the people waiting for you? Do you remember your family?"

"What? Pfft, of course." He insisted. "There's my mom and my dad, and my uh, my sister. And you know, all those friends I have. You know, them!"

Hekapoo sighed and placed a hand on one of his shoulders. "I never told you this because I was going to cancel our training early if you began showing signs, but one of the side effects of the Neverzone is a loss in memory from things outside the dimension. The longer you stay the more you'll forget; you can't remember anyone else's name, can you? And what about their faces?"

He didn't say anything, but the expression on his face was all she needed to know the answer. "If you keep staying here, soon enough you'll forget everything unrelated to the Neverzone. If you do end up spending a lifetime here and I send you back before it's too late, you will be able to live two lifetimes, but your mind will always be trapped in one. You don't want to stay because you want adventure, you don't want to go because you're scared that when you see everyone again, you won't know who they are."

"I just… I don't know what to do Hekapoo. I've changed so much; will I be the person they remember me to be? Will they be the people that I think they are? It's all so confusing to me now. I'm scared that if I go back, nothing will be as anyone remembers it."

"Listen to me Marco, you've grown a lot in these last couple of years. But you're still the same person as when you first entered. The memories of your friends and family, they'll all come back to you. But not if you keep staying here. The longer you stay, the harder it'll become. So when you go through that portal, take a deep breathe and trust in my words."

Marco's unease was laid to rest at Hekapoo's reassuring words as she opened a portal back to Mewni. Marco stared at the bright vortex, anxious. He willed the sword to turn back into scissors and strapped them to his belt, taking a deep breath, he did the hardest things he's had to face since entering the Neverzone, facing his doubt.

-00000

Star, Tam, Janna and Kelly sat around the table, waiting for Marco's return. Eight minutes had passed and they started getting worried that he may miss the deadline. Their worries were alleviated when the same portal that Marco went though appeared again, and out stepped their friend wearing new clothes. His pants were dirty and torn and he wore boots and a leather jacket.

"Hey Marco," Star greeted him cheerfully. "How'd things go?"

"What's with the new look?" Tam asked the thought that was one everyone's mind.

Marco looked blankly at the troupe. They knew him, but he didn't know them. He knew that he should know them, but he didn't recognize who they were. That's when the dread and terror set in, he had forgotten! His friends, his family, just about everyone! He had forgotten them all! Who were they? Who was he before the Neverzone? What was his-

"Sorry," Hekapoo slapped Marco upside the head. "Sometimes it takes a hard reset."

"Stop doing that!" Marco complained rubbing the balding spot.

"You okay Marco?" Star asked.

"I'm fine, Star. I'm used to-" He paused. He knew who she was! Who they all were! He remembered everything again!

"Star!" He cried at the realization and grabbed the girls and wrapped them all in a hug. "Oh, it's been so long! I've missed you all so much! And I have so many stories to tell you!"

"Okay, cool it," Star said a little uncomfortable and pushed off him. "It been like ten minutes, you sure you're okay?"

"Questions later," Hekapoo tossed Marco a spare change of his school uniform. "Get dressed, you got a fight to win."

"Higgs," Marco hissed remembering her too. "I trained for years just for this moment! Today, I shall deliver her a rightful butt-kicking!"

Everyone stared at him as he struck a dramatic pose, no one else really felt his level of determination or dramatism.

"Wait, did you say years?" Kelly asked catching on to that keyword.

-00000

The matches so far went well. Some students seemed to excel, others struggled. Kelly and Star clearly passed with flying colours. But now was the awaited time, the one fight everyone was waiting for.

Marco stepped onto the arena and faced his opponent, she had a smug grim on her thinking this was going to be easy. Marco was calm and determined, not a shred of doubt could be detected from him as he was about to introduce her to a new reality. Upon their instructor's command, they set themselves into a ready stance.

Higgs held her double-edged sword above her head. Marco took a low stance with his arms kept close to his body; the tip of his sword pointed directly at his opponent. Normally in class, he would use a single-handed straight-sword, or something easily wielded for beginners like an axe or a mace, today he chose a curved blade, something he became comfortable with in his training days.

All the onlookers could feel the tension in the air, everyone expected Higgs to win, as usual. But they could see a difference in Marco, steady confidence that was not overshadowed by hubris, it was as if he were a completely different person. Even Brunzetta noticed the micro-changes to him.

The room was so silent that one could even hear a fly buzzing from across the room. Everyone waited in anticipation, waiting for the signal.

"Begin!"

Higgs rushed him, something she typically did, but never making a tactical blunder as doing the same thing twice in a predictable manner. Her stance suggested a high strike, but was that what she was going for? Was it a low strike? To the side? Fake-out? Pierce? Flurry? She would always go for something different, not always what gave her the best advantage to not be predictable. After all, if the first strike couldn't be predicted when she was serious, there was no need for a second strike.

She closed the distance in an instant, not difficult with how far apart they were, but would still surprise an ordinary person off. Rushing was the one thing Marco could be sure she would do and stood his ground, not moving a muscle. She followed through with a high strike, bringing her sword down swiftly onto Marco, but the moment she noticed he made the tiniest motion to block, she diverted the flow of power and dropped her arms completely and delivering a horizontal strike to his exposed side. Her full intention was to take him out in one move, no matter what. She'd bring him down and subdue him before he could react, but on the off chance he saw through her, she'd quickly divert to the least defended spot. A two-pronged attack, simple, but effective.

But no one was more surprised than she was when her sword bounced back and the sound of metal on metal rang.

Higgs' delivered a fast strike, but all the years in the Neverzone forced Marco to hone his senses; and to him, her attack was like watching molasses pour. He took a half step forward to parry her strike and quickly delivered a counter.

She put her guard up quick enough to take the brunt of the attack, but the force still pushed her back the same distance she closed. She stood there, both mentally and physically shaken, her arms hurt from the force of his strike as she wondered how he could have blocked her **and** immediately countered? And she finally saw the same as everyone else, she saw adversary who was unafraid, not due to ignorance, but thanks to experience.

Marco calmly walked towards her, his sword extended forward. Higgs could feel the pressure of every step he took. Before she knew it, he was in front of her, but he never made any other move. He didn't want an advantage, but rather to fight her on equal footing. They glared at one another, both their bodies upright and swords crossed.

They stood like that for a long time, unflinching and unblinking; each looking for a flaw in the other's defence. One wrong move could cost them the match.

Marco attacked first, a side strike that Higgs saw coming a mile away. What came next was a flurry strikes. Each attack made was blocked. Each advance was halted. Each attempt for an advantage was stopped.

Nobody could believe what was happening, someone was keeping up and matching the best fighter in school, nobody could predict who would win. But Marco could see the difference. He went through ruthless training in a harsh environment, but Higgs had more formal training with her own pride on the line. The difference being: he was a step too slow.

His skill and muscle memory were all there, but he had lost all the raw power he had accumulated in the last sixteen years, and he was running out of steam. It could already be seen when Marco had to start dodging as Higgs began slowly pushing him back. Marco made fewer and fewer attacks, going on the defence. He knew that the performance they've given they'd both indisputably pass, he had reached his goal. But this was a matter of pride.

For Higgs, it was to prove she was the best. For Marco, it was a matter of redemption.

The fight came to a close as Marco whiffed on a strike, Higgs capitalized on his blunder and made sure to disarm him. His weapon flew out of his hands. Upon normal circumstances, Brunzetta would have stopped the fight then and there, declaring Higgs the victor. But she could clearly see that they needed to decide that for themselves, else neither would truly be satisfied with the results.

Higgs brought her sword down on Marco with both hands, putting her all into her attack and stuck Marco on his left shoulder.

With a loud boom, like the sound of a door slamming on a bag of chips, Higgs was thrown backwards. The force sent her off the stage entirely as Marco huffed, his left knee was on the ground and right arm extended into a fist.

The room was still, not the slightest noise was made. Everyone was in disbelief at what they saw.

"The victor is Marco Diaz," Brunzetta announced officially ending the duel. The crowd cheered into thunderous applause and rushed onto the stage.

"Marco, you won!" Star cried as she and Kelly hugged him in pure joy. At first, Marco wasn't sure what was happening or why everyone was cheering him. But his mind slowly came to.

He did it. All those years of hellish training had paid off, he had met his objective and went beyond. He beat Higgs! The congratulations went on for some time until Brunzetta told everyone to calm down so Marco could get medical attention. That last attack did a number on his shoulder, something his mind didn't process until it was brought to his attention.

-00000

"Keep it well rested and don't put any strain on it and your shoulder should heal nice and quick," the doctor advised Marco who now had his arm wrapped in a sling and shoulder iced.

"Sure thing," he said.

"So how'd you do it?" Kelly asked him now that he was looked after. "That punch I mean. How'd you manage to win like that?"

"Quite simply actually. See, when a person believes they've dealt the final blow, that's the moment they drop their defences. I gave her an opening and let her follow through with it. After that, I used a technique I picked up in training by shifting my body to absorb and redirect the power of her strike and threw it back at her combined with my own. Thus, delivering a destructive blow at the most opportune moment. Ended up paying a small price, but I think it was worth it."

"Like hell it was!" Hekapoo said angrily. "You got off lucky Marco, but you could have very well lost the use of your arm permanently if you didn't time it right!"

"You have a fair point," Marco conceded looking a bit ashamed that he made Hekapoo worry about him.

"So spill it, where did Hekapoo take you? You've been acting a bit different ever since you came back." Janna asked. Marco regaled them of his sixteen years in the Neverzone.

"Wow, so you're older now?" Star asked mystified by his adventures.

"Um, I think? Chronologically yes, but physically I'm still sixteen."

"Here, this is what he looked like before we returned." Hekapoo showed them a picture from her compact mirror of an older and buffer Marco, who was showering under a waterfall.

"HEKAPOO!" Marco cried alarmed she both had it and was sharing it. His privacy felt violated. The only saving grace was that stray foliage was covering his privates. "When and how did you take that?"

"Eh, at some point and I have my ways." She vaguely answered.

"Wow, you turned into a beefcake Marco," Tam said.

"Can I get a copy?" Janna asked.

"Do you still have the abs?" Star asked, very fixated on that one prospect.

"You know I just remembered; I have somewhere I need to be." Marco stumbled through his sentence; things were getting very uncomfortable for him.

"Oh, and where would that be?" Hekapoo smirked.

"Not here," he called down the hall, already gone.

"And before any of you ask, nothing happened between us. But if you girls don't act fast, as soon as he graduates I'm taking him back there and riding him like a dragoncycle." Hekapoo clarified. "So who else wants a copy?"

"… Me." Star lifted her hand, a bit embarrassed to admit, especially after Hekapoo's clear intentions.

Marco was glad to be clear of the scene, but he really did need to be somewhere else. He was rushed off to the infirmary after the fight and his bag was left in the stadium's locker-room. The place was empty since everyone finished their exam, which was fine for Marco. He felt that people would just swarm him again and he would rather avoid the attention.

He entered the locker-room, the lights still on. He grabbed his belonging, but just before closing the locker he heard something odd, it sounded like someone was crying.

He silently looked around, not wanting to interrupt whoever it was. To his surprise, he found a familiar orange-haired girl with red wings crying into herself curled up in a ball.

"Higgs?" He made himself known, concerned as to what was bothering her. She realized she been caught as she left out a sharp gasp and looked up to see the last person she wanted around her. Her eyes were red and her war paint was running from the tears rolling down her face.

"What're you doing here?" She hissed wiping away her tears trying to hide the fact.

"Uh, just came to grab my stuff. You okay?" He asked, worried for her.

"I'm fine," she shot. "Just leave me alone!"

Marco did the exact opposite and instead sat down beside her. Despite their rocky relationship, he didn't hate her, and he most certainly wasn't just about to leave someone who was in distress.

"Look, I know you don't like me all too much, especially after what happened. But did winning mean that much to you? I get that you're the best and all, so getting dethroned must be a hefty blow, but it's not like it's the end of the world."

"Sure, maybe for someone like you," she opened up. "But not for me. I'm a Valkyrie, Marco. Do you know what that means? It means that I grew up with forty-nine sisters, each and every one of us trained since birth to fight. Do you know how difficult it is to gain recognition from anyone when you're one of fifty siblings? My other sisters all excelled at something. Heidi was the best at the lance, Moss at archery, Mino had an impenetrable defence. But it wasn't just combat that I didn't shine at; music, culinary, academics. Nothing! I was good at everything, but never stood out in anything! Do you know how that felt? So I decided to come here, despite my parents' wishes, they thought it was best for me to follow my sisters, let them guide me, then maybe I could do something. But I didn't want that, I didn't want to be in someone else's shadow anymore. So I came here where no one knew me, where I stood out, where I was recognized. And then you came and took that from me. So yeah, to me it's the end of the world!"

Marco was speechless, or more like he didn't know what to say. That was the reason for her aggression, for her attitude. She was denied the opportunity for people to notice her all her life, always playing second fiddle, until people finally started noticing her. And when that was threatened, she lashed out, fighting tooth and nail to keep what was hers. Marco didn't know what to say to comfort her, so instead he tried saying the only thing that was sensible, something that could put all this in a different perspective.

"You know, you may be the best here, but in a few years, we'll all be out of here. Some day all our achievements here will just be a thing of the past. I mean, I'm sure you can get scouted and get into a good university or college by doing this. And it's not like I want to be the best forever. I just didn't want to be humiliated by you again. These things will pass and one day you'll realize it didn't matter."

"Easy for someone like you to say," she said bitterly.

"Someone like me what?"

"Someone who doesn't base themselves off one defining trait. Someone who has other things they can fall back on. Someone who hasn't had to fight to stand out. Someone who has friends to support you when you fail."

"Well you do have fair points, but what about your friends? Surely they would be there for you too, wouldn't they?" Higgs was quiet, all too quiet. "Higgs?"

"Just mind your own business next time Marco," she said coldly as she got up and walked briskly away. And that's when Marco realized it. Now thinking back, he's never seen her casually interact with other people, make jokes, or have been seen with others. She's been alone her whole life. He took the one thing she had in her life…

He felt like a jerk.

The next morning was the same as always. Marco had been gone for years, but oddly enough it all seemed like a dream, he surprised himself by how well he adapted back into his old life. He and his friends were grabbing breakfast, as they always did and made their way to the table the usually sat at, but that's when Marco noticed her.

Higgs sat alone in a section. Everyone else in the cafeteria were with their friends, chatting, joking, exchanging notes, doing what people normally do over a meal. All but her.

Marco nudged Star on the arm and pointed her direction to Higgs. He told them about what happened in the locker room, he probably should have kept it to himself but he felt too guilty. They exchanged a similar look, both thinking the same thing. Marco went to where Higgs sat while Star went to talk to the girls.

Marco sat next to Higgs without warning; it took her by surprise. She was clueless as to why he was doing what he was doing while he casually ate breakfast as though nothing was different. Then Star joined in on her other side, Kelly from across, and their other girls all joined in around the table, all eating as though nothing was different about the situation.

"Mm, Marco, here's that textbook you leant me." Jackie handed him back the book she borrowed.

"Meteora, don't you think you should eat more fruit or something?" Kelly asked, alarmed by the amount of meat on Meteora's plate.

"I eat what I want!" Meteora heard it enough from her mother, she didn't need her friends advising her dietary menu.

"Star, did you finish your math homework?" Marco asked.

"Yes," she answered. Marco looked at her with doubt, not breaking eye contact. "… No."

"Okay, I'm tutoring you during lunch."

"oh, come one Marco. It's sooooo boring."

Higgs was trapped within as the group chatted and bickered with one another as they always did. She didn't know why they decided to sit with her, she didn't know what they were doing. But she could guess that they were trying to induct her into their fold. She'd rather they didn't and go about their own business; she didn't want to make friends with them.

…

But admittedly, eating with others did feel… nice.

**Ugh! Okay, I finished this chapter! It's done!**

**Sorry for that long wait in between chapters folks, this took a lot longer than I expected it to. Originally this was supposed to be a Janna chapter, but I found that I had a beginning, plot, and jokes (most references to a particular show), but not enough substance to make it an actual chapter, so I had to scrap it and start this one instead. I don't know when that chapter will be out, but hopefully soon. I also don't know if this will be the norm for chapter releases, I would rather I upload within a quick period of time of one or two weeks rather than an entire month, but life's interruptions has other plans for you so there's not much you can do about that.**

**It was a lot of fun writing time points in the Neverzone. I feel a little dirty for full-on just ripping off one of the funniest scenes from The Emporer's New Groove, but come on, who wouldn't?**

**Also if you didn't clue in, the title is a reference to TeamFourStar. And if you don't know what that is, shame on you.**

**Bye.**


	14. Was That a Jojo Reference?

"Hey, Janna?"

"Yeah, Marco?"

"My nose itches,"

"And what do you want me to do about it?"

"Nothing, just… I want you to know that I'm never helping you again."

Marco and Janna laid on the ground in Janna's room, their bodies bound together by a rope. They had been helplessly lying there for over an hour, waiting in the hopes that someone would come and save them.

"Hey, Marco?"

"Yeah, Janna?"

"That thing I feel pressing against my butt is your compact, right?" Marco didn't answer. He didn't want to lie to her, but he most certainly didn't want to tell her the truth. "I hate you Marco."

"I'm sure you do…"

\- Hours earlier…

"I still can't believe you guys only have winter for one whole month," Marco said in disbelief observing their surroundings. The snow had cleared and the weather was comfortably warm, students were back to wearing light clothing as though not just two days ago it looked like the middle of winter.

"Yeah well, you know, the world cowers in fear knowing the Stump is about to reawaken," Star answers nonchalantly then shifts to a more serious and darker tone. "As it rightfully should."

"Come on Star, you can't seriously still believe in the Stump," Tammy said. "It's just an old wives' tale to make children behave. It's not real."

"You're lucky the Stump's gone back to sleep Tam, else we'd never see you again."

Marco learned all about the Stump and Stump Day from Star, and how he should fear the Stump. But he dismissed it as a fairy tale since it seemed Star was the only one to believe in it. Surely that will never come back to bite him.

"Anyway," Marco said trying to change the subject. "I'm going to visit Janna, she said she needed some help with something."

"Don't we usually agree to _not_ help Janna with her private things out of principle?" Tam asked.

"Yes," he admitted, not looking forward to helping with whatever Janna had in store. But this time when she asked it seemed different, plainer and more forthcoming than playful and coy. He was a bit curious if Janna wasn't playing around.

"Hey, Janna?" He knocked on her door. "You in there? It's Marco, you said you needed help?"

The door opened on its own, Janna's room was dark and dimly lit.

"Janna? Are you here? Is there a light switch around?" He asked stumbling into her room. The door closed on its own violently, cutting off the only bit of light, Marco was only able to see what was directly in front of his nose.

The air felt chilly, but also stuffy, as though it was difficult to breathe. But the eeriest thing is that it felt like something unnatural was watching his every move. The darkness felt claustrophobic, and though he was invited inside by a friend of his, he couldn't help but feel nervous, like something was wrong. He felt something gently brush against his back and the sound of his name carried on a whispering echo. He abruptly turned around, his heart pounding in his chest, expecting to see Janna, or maybe some sort of horror she kept in her room. Maybe it was just because of the darkness that he didn't see anything, or maybe it was his imagination running wild. But he still felt those eyes, the eyes watching him, coming closer and closer.

"Hey Marco," the boy shrieked from the voice behind him. Janna held a candle to illuminate herself, and she looked rather unimpressed from his high-pitched cry. "You good?

"Janna?" He felt like his heart was about to leap out his throat. "Why is your room so dark?"

"My light burnt out. I have to rely on candlelight for the time being." She began going around her room, lighting more candles to brighten their surroundings.

"Is that what you need help with? Just report it to the front desk, they'll get you a replacement."

"Eh, that's a hassle." She shrugged. "But no, that's not what I asked you for. I have a contract up for expiry with one of my familiars and it's something of a two-man job."

"Expire? I thought witches and their familiars are bonded for life?"

"Most do, but there are exceptions. Some familiars make temporary contracts. When that contract expires the familiar and witch can renew their contract or negotiate terms of a new one. If neither side is happy with new conditions then the two split ways."

"So what do you need me for?" Marco asked as Janna handed him a book.

"This one can be pretty troublesome, even by my standards." Janna took off her cloak and undressed. Marco became embarrassed and covered his view with the book when she stripped down to her bra. "Aww, Marco, are you shy?"

"Why are you taking your clothes off?" He asked behind the book.

"All apart of the ritual,"

"Is it though?"

"Pfft, no, I just enjoy making you feel uncomfortable." She sat in the center of her room and told Marco to read the bookmarked page. Marco did as instructed; unable to understand the jumble of words written down, but able to read them none the less. A bright yellow spiral began forming around Janna, the boundary ending just before Marco.

"Now, no matter what you do, do NOT let her touch that book." She demanded and began muttering something under her breath. It felt like the air was sucked out of the room, and despite the candles not dimming or being extinguished the room seemed to grow darker. What was this familiar Janna was summoning? Marco felt nervous, even scared. Whatever Janna was summoning was dangerous.

Without warning, an ominous flash of light shown from Janna, birthing a humanoid cat-like creature covered in an aura that floated behind her. Its body looked to be feminine; sporting a dark violet colour fur with red zig-zagging lines running across the body and what looked like plating covering its breasts and crotch with a feline tail that split into two ends. The limbs of the familiar were completely different from its body, the arms and legs were made of a combination of aqua blue and golden coiled tubes. The familiar had cat ears but no mouth and four eyes, each a different colour; the top left was red, bottom left was blue, top right was green, and the bottom right was yellow.

Marco was left speechless looking at this amalgam that looked like a design between a robot combined with abstract art given consciousness.

"WWWRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" It cried out bending its knees and leaning far back.

"Alright Pussycat Doll, that's enough out of you," Janna said a bit annoyed. "Do you have to do that every time I summon you?"

"Oh come on Jan-Jam, you love it," it responded despite it not having a mouth with a sultry, echoing voice. Its eyes spied Marco and zipped over to him, stopping short of spiral Marco stood outside. "And what do we have here? Another toy Janna? What happened to the last one? Did he run away or did you break him?"

"Cat, the contract is expiring! Are we renewing it or not?" Janna asked sternly. She was different, Marco had never seen Janna not relaxed before. Whatever was going on was serious business if Janna wasn't playing around.

"Oh I don't know Jan-Jam, you haven't been playing with me as often, I need more stimulation in my life," The familiar said playfully looking back to Janna.

"Pussycat!"

"Fine," she sighed, clearly not getting anywhere with Janna. "Let me see the print."

"It's the same as it ever was since our first contract." Janna scowled.

"I'm sure it is, but it's not that I don't trust you, Janna, I just have to see with my own eyes. I don't want to agree without confirming, after all, what if you were to take advantage of me?"

"Okay, fine. Marco, turn to the page with the green tab and let Pussycat see it." Marco did as he was instructed and faced the page towards Pussycat Doll.

"A bit closer boy, I can't see it all too well," He did what was asked of him, only getting as close as he would allow, stopping short of the circle that he surmised was for his protection. "I'm am an old familiar boy and my eyes aren't what they used to be, bring some light over!"

Marco grabbed a nearby candle and held it next to the pages, careful not to let them burn. Marco thought the circle kept Cat from getting out, that was the wrong assumption. Cat outstretched a hand past the circle and flicked the candle onto Marco. He panicked as the flame bounced off him trying desperately not to catch fire. In his panic, the arm that held the book moved towards Cat and into the circle, just enough for her to take the marked page.

"Oh no!" Janna exclaimed seeing what happened, silently cursing herself for not taking bet precaution. She jumped at Pussycat Doll, aiming to steal the page back. Tragically, the familiar was too fast for her and uttered a phrase.

"Stop! ZA WARUDO!" Marco never blinked, but he had no idea what happened next. He was suddenly on the ground, tied up to Janna. He never felt anything grab him or being pushed over, but somehow, they were in this situation.

"Pussycat! Untie us now!" Janna demanded, face down to the floor

"Not happening Janna," she teased, waving the page like it was a fan cooling her off. "But I have the contract now, so if you want me to free you then we're going to have some serious alterations made to it."

"Not happening!"

"Then you're out of luck,"

"Ha! I never had luck in the first place!" Janna countered proudly. "And you know what's going to happen if to you if you don't have someone bonded to you. I may be tied up, but you're the one tied down!"

"Jan-Jam, this is a high school! How many students do you think would be willing to make a contract with the likes of me? It won't be that difficult."

"You're right, but we both know there are few people out there that are capable of forming a contract with you. And soon enough, without an anchor to hold you to the material realm, you'll be forcibly ejected back to the spirit realm where you'll be trapped."

Pussycat Doll leaned in closer to be face-to-face with Janna. "You want to bet on that?"

Even though she had no mouth, Marco could swear the familiar smiled, and without warning, she disappeared.

"… So Janna, what just happened?" Marco asked, utterly confused.

"Nothing great Marco, but to sum it all up in the shortest form: there's a rouge familiar on the loose looking to get her freedom, or the closest thing to it, that a spirit can get."

"We're both tied up, how do we get out of this?"

"No problem, I have a solution," the tattoo on Janna's right shoulder began to move and peel off, turning from 2D artwork to a living creature. It was the flying eyeball that Marco saw on his first day and the one familiar he'd only seen up to this point. He was no longer bothered by seeing it, given that Janna keeps it around regularly, but it still weirded him out.

It's an eyeball with wings. All it does is fly around and stare at you.

"Lolo, we're tied up and Pussycat Doll is loose, go get help!" The eyeball starred at the two before flying off. "See Marco, now we just have to wait for Lolo to get help and they'll come to untie us. After that, we can hunt down Pussycat Doll. Simple."

Janna's self-assured plan came to an abrupt halt as a thudding sound came from the door. The two looked over to see that, due to Lolo being an eyeball with wings, had no capability to operate a doorknob; the best it could do was repeatedly bump into the door, either doing its best efforts to break it down or get someone's attention.

"We're going to be here for a while, aren't we?" Marco asked.

"We could very well die like this."

-00000

"Okay, okay, now just slide your legs forward along with mine," Janna tried guiding Marco as the two desperately tried crawling across the floor to a near-by candle in hopes that they could try burning the ropes off. A plan Marco was firmly against but had no better plan.

"Janna? Marco? Are you guys in there?" Star's voice could be heard from the other side of the door as it opened. She walked into the sight of Marco mounted on top of a half-naked Janna, tied up together and their pelvises lifted in the air.

There was a brief, and very awkward, moment of silence as the three stared at each other.

"Am… am I interrupting something?" Star asked confused.

"Star, no! This isn't what it looks like!" Marco quickly tried clearing up the misunderstanding.

"Star, this is whatever you think it is and you have to live with that knowledge now. But in the meantime, please untie us." Janna said, doing what she does best and hijacking the situation for her own amusement.

"What is happening?" Star asked freeing them.

"We were tied up by one of Janna's familiars," Marco said.

"And then she bolted and is who-knows-where, we need to get her back before she causes too much trouble," Janna added, putting her shirt back on.

"Oh no, don't tell me it's Pussycat Doll," Star groaned.

"It's Pussycat Doll," Janna confirmed.

"Ugh, I hate her. She's the worst!"

"Yeah, okay, can someone clue me in here? Like, what the hell is going on specifically?" Marco asked, bearly able to keep up.

"Okay, I'm going to give you the shortest version I can," Janna began to explain everything for him. "There are two types of spirits, low-grade and high-grade. Low-grade spirits are like Lolo here, given form by magic and the will of the summoner. The summoner acts as a beacon and anchor, guiding a spirit from the spirit realm to the physical and keeping them locked in so they don't disappear. Pussycat Doll is a high-grade spirit, she already has a form, and unlike low-grade spirits, she has sentiency. All spirits have their own conscience, but only high-grades have a will of their own, and Pussycat likes to exploit that whenever she gets the chance. If she's left to her own devices who knows what mischief she can get into!"

"Let me get this straight: you're worried about someone out there who could cause an unknown amount of problems for you and you'd never know what it would be or when it'll come?" Marco asked trying to clear things up.

"Yes," Janna answered, oblivious or ignorant to the irony of the situation. "We have to go and find her before things get out of hand!"

"Okay, let's go then!" Star said with determination as she reached for the door.

"IS WHAT I WOULD SAY!" Janna cried, taking a fabulously dramatic pose. Her legs spread apart slightly and her toes pointed inward, her right arm slightly outstretched behind her and left hand in front of her face with her fingers spread apart. "In reality that is just what she would want us to do! Pussycat may be a playful spirit, but there's always an underlying order to what she does! After all, leaving my room unguarded is just what she would try to make me do!"

Marco and Star stared at the witch, completely perplexed and astonished by what just happened.

"Janna did… did you just grow incredibly muscular for a moment?" Star asked.

"Show yourself Pussycat!" Janna demanded, ignoring Star's appropriate question.

"Ho-hum," a sigh echoed. "You always were a clever one Jan-Jam. How'd you know I'd stay?"

Appearing out of no-where was the spirit, her arms crossed dissatisfied that her plan failed.

"I have to stay on my toes to always be ahead of you," Janna said proudly. "You may have the paper, but you still need the chalk, and I've kept it securely hidden. You'll never be able to find it."

"You know the power I wield girl," Pussycat Doll said in an aggressive tone. "What makes you think I can't find it? What makes you think I'd even need it?"

"Star, what're they talking about?" Marco asked his friend in a hushed tone.

"I don't know, I'm just as lost as you are." She answered.

"You are powerful, Pussycat Doll," Janna replied, ignoring the off-handed duo. "But you know where you are. If you try anything other than the chalk, you'll be noticed by the Magic Highchool Commission for sure, something you'd desperately avoid. And do you really think I wouldn't take then necessary precautions when dealing with you?"

Pussycat Doll looked contemplative for a moment.

"Clever, very clever Janna," she finally said. "Okay, I have the page, you have the chalk. How do we settle this?"

"Simple, with a game."

"A game?" Marco and Star repeated, a bit doubtful that Janna was making the right choice.

"What kind of game?" Pussycat Doll's ears stood straight up, her curiosity piqued.

"Easy, we'll play echo act 1." She said smugly. "All we have to do is guess what the other person will say. If guessed right, you win. Simple."

"Sounds fun," Pussycat Doll purred. "Okay, I accept. Why don't you start us off."

"I'm guessing you're going to say: knick-knack-paddy-whack."

"Are you even trying?" Pussycat laughed. "You will say: stop that!"

Pussycat Doll extended her tail out and began tickling Janna on the nose.

"Hey, quit it!" Janna cried as she slapped the tail away. "You're going to say: ha! Missed!"

Janna jumps towards Pussycat Doll, trying to grab the sheet of paper from her hand. The spirit easily evaded the girl's attempt and dangled the sheet in front of her face.

"Ha! Miss-" Pussycat caught herself, not fully finishing the sentence and tried to smoothly transition to more natural without admitting she was about to say exactly what Janna expected her to say. "-judged your opportunity. Okay, now we're starting hard mode. I guess you'll say: yikes."

Their game continued for nearly twenty minutes. Star and Marco were left on the sidelines, safely away from the chaos as they learned that the game was less about trying to guess what the other person would say, but rather, manipulate them into saying it. Janna was starting to get annoyed, she'd been caught in a number of Pussycat's traps, nearly losing several times. And other than the first time at the beginning of the game, Pussycat hadn't slipped up once.

"The next thing you'll say is: not my colour." Janna proceeds to remove a ring from one of her fingers and threw it at Pussycat, who effortlessly knocked it to the side.

"Really Janna, this is getting sad." Pussycat pitied her. Janna's guesses and attempts at manipulating what would be said were becoming less accurate and more desperate. "My turn, I guess you're going to say: don't you dare."

Pussycat proceeded to slowly push a glass of water off a table, not breaking eye contact with Janna through the whole process until it tipped over and broke on the floor.

"Pussycat!" Janna groaned, annoyed by the action. The constant mental abuse, the idiotic game, the situation itself. It was all getting to her. She needed to do something, something that would for sure win her the bet. If only Marco had just listened to her-

Marco!

Janna looked to the boy. Marco got her into this mess, and he was going to get her out of it.

Marco was worried when he saw her signature mischievous smile and what looked like a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Oh, Marco~ Come here." She not-so innocently called to him. Marco's face scrunched up into an expression of dreaded but obeyed nonetheless.

"Wait, what?" He asked puzzled after she whispered something into his ear. "You can't be serious Janna. Can I even do that? And I have to say that too?"

"Listen here Diaz," she said through gritted teeth and gripping his jacket in her fist. "This is all because of you! Now man up and do as I tell you or so help me, I will curse you with procreational impotence and use you as a plaything! Constantly having my fun, but no matter how kinky it gets you'll never get off!"

He stiffly walked towards Pussycat Doll terrified. This was brought on by him having to face a high-grade spirit and only relying on a half-baked plan with questionable outcomes; that, and the whole sex threat thing Janna made. Marco really wanted to avoid such fate.

"Mm? What's this now?" Pussycat eagerly eyed Marco, curious as to what he will do.

Marco felt hot, his knees weak, palms were sweaty. Thank god he didn't eat mom's spaghetti. Not like last time.

"So, what are you going to do?" Pussycat Doll giggled, truly curious at what a weak being like him could do to her. What could he possibly make her say that Janna will predict? She floated close to him until they were face to face. "Well… go on boy."

She couldn't have done anything more stupid than that. In one quick motion, Marco raised his hand and grabbed Pussycat Doll by the back of her head. Not aggressively, but more of a forceful caress; something that was strong and gentle at the same time. And quite astonishing, she found her face pressed up against his, Marco's lips embracing around the mouthless area of her face.

Star's jaw dropped, eyes bulged, and her wings extended outward. She was too shocked to say anything.

Pussycat was too stunned to do anything, not even having the strength to pull back until Marco removed his hand, freeing her. She fell to the floor, unable to keep herself aloft.

"What was that? What did you-? Why would he-?" Pussycat Doll stammered.

"You thought your first kiss would be from Janna?" Marco declared in an arrogant and confident manner. "But it was me, Diaz!"

That struck Pussycat to her core.

"And your next line will be: but how did you know that?" Janna cried out.

"But how did you know that?" Pussycat Doll asked. But then it dawned on her, she had said it, she said the exact thing Janna had predicted her to say. She lost.

"How?" Pussycat asked, lying on the floor. "How did you know that would work?"

"Simple," Janna smiled with pride and pointed at her forehead. "I knew everything that would happen. All of this was just according to my plan. I knew from the beginning that Marco would screw up and that you would expect me to panic when you got loose. I knew what you thought I would try next and I knew that you couldn't refuse a challenge when presented as a game. Even me struggling near the end was an act!"

"This was all apart of your plan?"

"You're damn right it was!" Janna proclaimed. "Everything went according to my plan from the very beginning!"

There was dead silence in the room, nobody could have predicted this. To think that Janna had planned all this from the start. But one question still remained in everyone's mind.

"But why go through all this?" Pussycat asked. "Why did you set all this up? We've renewed our contract plenty of times before without assistance. Why did you involve him if you knew this was all going to happen?"

"Because Pussycat," Janna said, looking more like her relaxed and confident self, like nothing in the world could phase her. "I knew that time and time again you would try to gain your freedom at any chance you'd get. So I had to set up a scenario where you were so close to it, only to have you fail at the most critical time. Face it girl, we're stuck with each other, it's best that you accept that now."

A light chuckle began coming from Pussycat Doll until it became full-blown laughter.

"So all this was a game you set up to trap me?" Pussycat calmed down. "I always did like you Jan-Jam, you're able to keep things fun and interesting. That's what I love about you. Okay, you won, I'll renew our contract without complaint. After all, I know that so long as stick with you, you'll keep things fun and interesting."

She handed the page she stole back to Janna.

"I, Pussycat Doll, accept Janna Ordonia as my master and agree to renew the master-servant contract that binds us."

"I, Janna Ordonia, accept Pussycat Doll as my familiar."

The two pressed the palms of their hands together, an ethereal chain wrapped around their hands and tightened itself to lock the two together. The chain then disappeared, sealing the contract.

"That seemed almost anti-climactic," Star said, now back to her senses.

"Yeah, I was kind of expecting more lights and maybe some wind," Marco added.

"Oh? And I'm sure you were expecting much more, like how I'd just gloss over the fact that you laid your filthy hands, and not to mention your lips too?" Pussycat floated to Marco until she was in his face, glaring at him with cold, angry eyes.

"Janna forced me into that!" He immediately answered. He was terrified. "It's not like I wanted to do it!"

"And you think that excuses you! To think I received one from you and not my beloved Janna!" She shouted angrily. Marco shut his eyes and tensed up, awaiting whatever horror that may follow a spirit's wrath.

Something soft gently pressed against his face and he felt himself being embraced.

"But I don't think I mind it all too much," Pussycat purred. She held Marco tightly, nuzzling him affectionately. He could feel her tail brushing against his leg playfully. "I may love my Jan-Jam, but I do have enough in my heart for two people. What do you say, want to make an unofficial contract with me?"

"Hey! Hey! I'm the only one that teases Marco around her!" Janna cried, pulling her familiar off him. "You keep your hands to yourself."

"Oh poo," Pussycat Doll pouted. "Well, if there's nothing left for me to do, I'll be dismissing myself then."

She faded out of reality behind Janna, probably becoming a tattoo on her body.

"So, is everything okay now?" Star asked.

"Yup, thanks for showing up Star."

"No problem, guess Marco and I will get out of your hair."

"Actually there's something I need to discuss with Marco first."

"Okay then, I'll catch you guys later." She left Janna's room, leaving Janna and Marco alone.

"What did you want to talk about?" Marco asked.

"Two things. First:" Janna raised her hand and slapped Marco across the face.

"OW!" He cried, holding his reddened cheek. "What was that for?"

"Do you have any idea how terrible things could have turned out because of your carelessness!?" Janna screamed.

"I thought everything was according to your plan?"

"Are you nuts!? The plan was to renew my contract and keep the book away from her! Everything flew out the window the moment she got away! I was just doing everything off the top of my head!"

"I'm sorry," Marco said feeling guilty.

"Yeah, well, being sorry isn't what fixed everything." Janna crossed her arms in frustration and refused to look at him. She was beyond angry and for good reason.

"What's the second thing you want to tell me?"

"The other thing? Well…" Her words drifted away, it looked like something was on her mind. She grabbed Marco's coat with both hands and pulled him into her, forcing their lips to meet.

"The other thing is that if you tell anyone about that then I'll deny it immediately!" She said after she pushed him off her when she was done. She glared at him, but with an expression Marco thought he would never see from Janna: embarrassment.

"I know I was the one who told you to but I don't think it was fair that Pussycat was the one you got to kiss," Janna blushed, her eyes breaking away from his, unable to keep her composure or look at him. "But even if you tell anyone and they believe you, you know that I could spin this to my favour. Now get out!"

Janna shoved Marco out of her room and slammed the door in his face. He stood there speechless, his mind still processing what just happened. Only one word was able to come out his mouth.

"N-nani?"

**I did not enjoy writing this. At all. Okay, that's not completely true, I did have some fun. But compared to how long this chapter took compared to all other thus far, this took me way too long to finish. But it finally is and hopefully the next one will be out soon (fingers crossed).**

**Anyways, in other news, did anyone else see Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss? I watched Hazbin 3 times in the first 24 hours of its release. I enjoyed it that much! I even decided to change my profile pic from Tokita Ohma (Kengan Asura, best martial arts manga I've read and really recommend you check it out; but skip that horrendous Netflix adaptation. It was like watching Berserk 2016 all over again. My heart broke.) to the "Radio Demon" Alastor. It was either that or demon-face Charlie but Alastor won out due to him being a total boss!**

**That's all for this update.**

**Bye.**


	15. The Beach Episode

"Guys, I'm dying," Star wheezed as she was sprawled out on the grass.

"You're dying? I'm dead."Meteora responded.

"My body's already withering away into non-existence," Janna added.

"I think we can all agree that each and every one of us is undeniably exhausted and deprived at this point." Marco chimed in. The group groaned in unison, all agreeing that this was, undoubtedly, the hottest day they have ever experienced.

They all gathered under a tree, the shade doing its best to provide them with some relief from the relentless heat. They thought they could find relief indoors, but coincidentally, almost every cooling system on campus was conveniently broken. The school, their dorms, the library, everywhere. The only places that still had working air conditioning were already filled with people and no room for them to join, and with so many people packed together, it was just as stuffy inside as it was hot outside.

"You know it's hot when a demon is complaining about the heat." Tam sat against the tree, Janna to her left and Higgs to her right. She tried cooling herself by waving her hand to blow cool air towards her, it was a futile attempt. "We can't keep suffering like this, we can't keep suffering like this."

"Is the pool open?" Higgs asked, her makeup running down her face.

"Yes!" Jackie replied stepping in to view. She and Kelly joined the group, both just as sweaty and exhausted like the rest. "We and everyone else had the same idea. Believe me when I saw that the pool is full."

"Well, this looks promising." Marco moaned as Kelly and Jackie and flopped on the ground like the rest of the group. "We have to try something though, we have to beat the heat. Who has ideas?"

"Too hot, can't think," Janna said.

"Great contribution Janna," Marco said sarcastically. "Anyone else?"

"Star, what about magic? Can't you conjure something to help us?" Meteora asked.

"Lemme try," she extended one of her arms toward the sky and beam shot out. A fluffy and white snowman formed and began dropping snow onto Star. The spell laughed and danced around her innocently, happy to let the snow fall down, that is until the laughter turned to screams of horror as it melted away into nothing.

"Nope," Star replied, not even reacting to the birth and death of her spell.

"What if we went to the beach?" Kelly added.

"Hey, that's a great idea," Jackie perked up.

"Except for two problems," Meteora cut in before everyone got their hopes up. "One, we don't a vehicle to get there."

"What about Marco's scissors?" Tam pointed out.

"Uhhh, about that," Marco said uneasily.

**-Two days ago**

"And you're sure this'll work?" Marco asked skeptically.

"Marco, would I ever try something if I wasn't sure of it?" Janna answered nonchalantly, spinning his scissors around her finger. Memories immediately flooded Marco's mind of times when she did things without thinking of consequences or caring about the conclusion just for the hell of it.

"Yes!"

"Nah, it'll be fine."

-**Present**

"And then a pig-goat swallowed my scissors."

"Still no word about their retrieval," Janna informed.

"And the second thing," Meteora got the focus back to her. "Is that the closest beach is off-campus, and without a written form of approval by a teacher, leaving is prohibited. And in cases of large groups like ours, we also need a chaperone."

"What if your mom took us?" Kelly asked.

"She's been under a lot of stress recently and decided to take some time off so she's unavailable. Star, your parents?"

"Not happening." She said without turning her head. "Got members of my dad's family visiting. And there ain't no party like a Johansen party because a Johansen party is full of rioting, shouting, and fighting, so while dad entertains them, mom has to keep everything under control."

"So we're out of options?" Marco asked.

"Not quite," a familiar voice said from above. Hekapoo did a front flip from seemingly nowhere, landing in front of them. Just how did she have this much energy in the heat? "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, and personally, I think going to the beach would be a great idea."

"Really Hekapoo? You'd take us?" Marco asked hopefully. Hekapoo agreed she would and everyone cheered in excitement, it would seem that they would have their beach day.

"By the way, Hekapoo, why were you spy on us?" Star asked, raising a very valid question.

"I wasn't spying, I was around couldn't help but overhear your conversation. By the way, heads up Marco." Everyone looked up, seeing a portal was open above them. And before any more questions could be asked something fell out of it.

"Ow, you couldn't have made your portal any closer to the ground?" The object turned out to be a young girl with tanned skin and long brown hair with a hairpin that looked like a bone keeping her hair out of her face.

"Sorry, did I forget to mention to watch your first step?" Hekapoo said with false innocence.

"Mariposa!?" Most of the girls cried in unison realizing who Hekapoo brought with her.

"Hey girls!" Mariposa cried in excitement seeing them. "Nice seeing you again. Is my brother around?"

"Down here," Marco wheezed from underneath his sister.

"Aw geez, sorry bro!" Mariposa quickly got off her twin and helped him to his feet.

"Not that I'm disappointed but, what're you doing here?" Marco asked.

"I wanted to see you, so I begged your teacher to let me visit."

"Due to Marco being the first human to jump between dimensions and be accepted into Mewni High, certain measures had to be taken. One of which is to deliver a monthly report of his activities and school experience to his parents or guardians and assure them that he's thriving and being well taken care of. Your sister here wanted to visit, so I decided she could tag along under my supervision." Hekapoo explained.

"Is that allowed?" Kelly asked.

"I'm a teacher and member of them Magic Highschool Commission. So sure, why not?" Hekapoo's answer didn't exude much confidence that what she was doing was technically permitted. "But back to the real topic at hand. Grab your swimsuits kids and meet at the main entrance in an hour, we're having a beach day!"

Everyone cheered again, too excited at the prospect of a day filled with sun, sand, and fun.

"You don't have a swimsuit, do you Mariposa?" Jackie brought up a valid question. Mariposa just appeared as soon as plans were made, she wasn't prepared.

"Come on, we'll help you find something," Meteora pushed Mariposa away from the group towards the closest store. "Jackie and I will help her out and meet you guys later."

The sun was hot and the sand was hotter, but the breeze from the sea was cool and the water sparkled in the sunlight. The scenario was perfect and picturesque. There were all kinds of Mewmans and monsters already at the beach, having the same idea the group had on this hot day. Children played in the water, adults were enjoying the sun, and all around everyone was having a good time, present company included.

"Woo-hoo, were here!" Kelly cheered, her ears perked straight up and her normally hidden tail wagged happily.

"This is all so amazing!" Mariposa ogled at the spectacle. The beach itself looked like any she'd been to on Earth, but she was more interested in the monsters, so many different types of creatures never seen before. No one could blame her, not even Marco, he remembered how strange it was for him when he first came to Mewni. He still learned something new about the dimension every day, but everything that once seemed strange to him he now accounts it as an ordinary situation, even the giant carriage ride they took that was pulled by giant invisible goats didn't phase him.

But despite the positive points of the day, like being allowed to go to the beach and his sister visiting, Marco couldn't help but complain about one thing.

"Why am I stuck carrying all the luggage?" He complained as he was forced to carry/drag a cooler, blankets, beach chairs, two umbrellas and a bunch of bags.

"Come on Marco, you can't expect us 'frail' and 'delicate' girls to do the physically demanding jobs, can you? That's clearly something a strong man like you should be doing." All the girls sniggered at Meteora's half-baked excuse. Marco couldn't help but grumble being left with the luggage jockey. But, there was one really great aspect to the situation, and that was the girls themselves. Because when you go to the beach, you have to wear swimsuits!

Star wore a purple one-piece swimsuit with white lining and a star in the center of her chest, it looked rather tight on her and Marco was curious how she could get it on with her giant and fragile-looking wings, especially when it looked like the swimsuit went around them. But what was really on his mind was how the swimsuit really helped shape her butt that Marco, for the first time, that that it looked really amazing. She had a small booty, but very shapely and perfectly rounded. A butt that couldn't hypnotize you if she tried twerking, but certainly gained one's attention and definitely deserved a second look with how well moulded it looked.

Jackie wore a two-piece aqua sports swimsuit, but not the usual one Marco would see her wear at school. The top had a hole cut out the center to reveal some cleavage and the bottoms had a higher cut revealing more of her butt and flank, but nothing too revealing, just enough to catch your attention.

Kelly wore a wave designed bikini that had different shades of purple. There wasn't anything too noticeable about her figure or anything eyecatching, but Marco did notice that her breasts looked bigger. It was no doubt a push-up bra.

Janna's original swimsuit was supposed to be something rather… scandalous. But the girls forced her to change into a high-neck top that covered her chest and supported up by a strap going around her neck keeping her shoulders bare and a skirt bottom. It wasn't very engrossing but she did look rather fashionable.

Tammy had a red top that was tied at the front and wore a breezy beach skirt that never went past her knees with the left side being elevated a bit more and a slit along the side to fully expose one of her legs. The skirt was, in Tam's usual fashion, ripped in places. Actually, it looked like the slip was ripped by Tam herself and Marco was reminded of how silky smooth her legs were. Truly, it was not a devil's charm or temptations that lured people, it was their hypnotizing legs.

Oddly enough, the residential 'punk' girl Meteora surprised Marco by wearing a bikini that had ruffles. PINK ruffles, to boot! Meteora liked wearing leather and plaid and skinny jeans while showing off her midriff. Seeing her like that was a whole new experience! This scene was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

Higgs went a bit different from the rest and wore a black monokini that was open at the backside to allow her to slip in and out of it without her giant wings getting in the way. It also had a hole in the abdomen that revealed, to everyone's amazement, an incredible set of abs. Nobody could keep quiet about them when they first saw her well-developed body. And Star may have made Higgs feel a little uncomfortable when she kept wanting to touch them. That girl has a serious thing for abs.

And lastly was Marco's own sister, Mariposa. She picked out a bikini with yellow polka-dots and shorts. The combination helped define her trim runner's body. Higgs' had a toned body that displayed impressive physical results, but Mariposa had an athletic figure. It made sense with how she enjoys cardio-focused sports.

Yeah, hauling all the luggage was a pain to be sure, but if the reward was getting a front-row seat to this exhibit, Marco wouldn't have minded if a bit more was added to his task; it was well worth it.

"This looks like a good spot," Everyone agreed with Star's suggestion and Marco dropped the gear and plummeted to the ground. He didn't care how hot the sand was, he needed a rest.

"Nice, pick. Plenty of open room, close to the water but far enough away, and far enough away from the other beach-goers that it feels like we're all on our own here." Hekapoo admired. She wore large white-rimmed sunglasses and a beach hat.

"Where's your swimsuit? You're still in your dress." Tam pointed out.

"Oh, don't worry. I have that covered." She snapped her fingers and her dress burned off, revealing a black bikini. Four triangles covered her assets; if you could even say that they did that. It looked a size or two too small on her and was all held together by thin bits of string. Everyone was speechless at her… well, we'll call it 'confidence.'

"Enough gawping, let's set up shop and have our fun!" Jackie encouraged. Everyone snapped to attention and did as instructed, laying out blankets and towels, setting up umbrellas and chairs, and unloading bags of personal possessions.

"Beach day!" Star cried as she dove into the water with Jackie and Kelly soon behind her. Meteora grabbed a floating bed and took it easy as she drifted on the water while Janna, Tammy and Hekapoo stayed on the land. Janna grabbed a shovel and pendant and said something about looking for buried pirates treasure while Hekapoo and Tam took the time to enjoy the sun and tan. Which was a little odd as no one knew for certain if the two's skin could tan? Maybe they just enjoyed the heat?

"Marco, you mind doing our backs?" Hekapoo asked melodically as she waved the bottle sun tanning lotion as she and Tam laid stomach down, their tops were undone to expose their bare backs and come hither expressions. Instead, it was Marco's sister that swiped the lotion bottle from Hekapoo.

"Don't worry, I can help you with that," she said cheerfully with a smile. Eerily enough, though Mariposa presented herself as a friend, she couldn't hide her menacing aura. Marco had seen this before when Mariposa felt especially challenged by people, taking special care not to physically show any hostility; but her murderous intent was so strong that you could taste it in the air. "It's fine Marco, go join the others, I'll take care of this."

Her voice was very soothing, but also robotic, like she tried masking her emotions. And Marco knew to never oppose his sister when she was like that and quickly followed Star, Jackie and Kelly's lead and into the sea.

"That's a shame," Tam pouted. "Oh well, hopefully your hands are just as strong as Marco's."

"Oh, I assure you, mine are plenty strong," Mariposa grinned as she flexed her fingers making several cracking sounds.

Many hijinks ensued that day as the group enjoyed themselves. They got ice cream and some of it spilled onto Meteora's chest that caught Marco's eye, watching the cool desert role down her front and over her chest, leaving a white trail as it slid down. Either she didn't notice the mess the soft serve left on her bare skin, or she knew exactly what happened and didn't care.

They played chicken fights with Higgs and Marco on a team against Mariposa and Kelly. Mariposa and Kelly sat on their teammates' shoulders while they tried pushing each other over. Being able to have skin-to-skin contact with Higgs made Marco realize just how toned her body really was, he always thought muscles wouldn't feel luscious. But being able to grip two strong thighs made him very conscious of how fast his heart beat. He really hoped something hadn't just been awakened inside him.

After a while some of them played volleyball, the girls were all oddly competitive, but Marco was too distracted by the girls to really get into the game. The way their bodies moved about as they dove, jumped and stretched; yes, Marco was truly thankful to be alive this day. And then while he was distracted he was spiked in the face by the volleyball. That's what he gets for not keeping his head clear, it's called karmic justice.

At one point they had a contest and split into teams where they would bury Marco, Meteora, and Star in the sand, only leaving their heads exposed and their teammates would draw bodies in the sand for the buried people. Tammy and Kelly thought it would be funny to give Marco a shapely woman's figure, and they were right, everyone had a great laugh. Higgs and Mariposa drew a picture that showed Meteora being eaten by a sea monster. But by the judge's decree, that being Hekapoo who decided to stay out of the competition, the victory went to Star, Jackie and Janna. They made Star look like her normal self, except she rode a warnicorn into battle leading an army with a complete background scene of fire and brimstone. The entire thing looked like a tapestry.

Everyone spent the day having fun and enjoying themselves with beach shenaniganry. They swam in the sea, built sandcastles, pretended to be giants and destroyed the sandcastle, tossed a beach ball around, had races, and enjoyed a picnic. And only sometimes would a lewd event happen, like when Jackie tripped over Marco and he got a faceful of cleavage. What fun they had.

"Okay, here it comes. You ready?" Jackie asked as a wave was rolling in. "Remember, you want to swim with it, then when you've caught the wave that's when you stand up."

Jackie had been teaching Marco, Star and Mariposa to surf. Marco used the board Jackie had brought along while Star and Mariposa used ones Star had conjured. The girls picked up on the sport rather quickly, while Marco had a much more difficult time getting the hang of it; going from laying on your stomach then onto your feet proved to be harder than it seemed, there was a lot of balance involved. Marco spent the last forty minutes trying to stay on the surfboard but eventually got the hang of it.

The group followed as Jackie had instructed them. They laid on the surfboard and swam with the wave as Jackie swam alongside them. At her signal, they stood up and changed the board's direction so it went along with the wave rather than away from it.

Everyone had successfully mounted their boards and were surfing the wave with Jackie swimming with them. Marco was amazed at how fast a swimmer she was, but that should be an obvious quality for a person born in the sea.

Everyone was enjoying the sport, never had Marco known the excitement of surfing through a wave as the crest rolled over him. It was all rather enchanting until Star got a little too close to the tip and fell off her board. The distraction cause Marco to lose his balance too and fell into the wave.

Mariposa noticed she was on her own and surfed her way out of the barrel and over the tip of the wave. A trick like that was easy for her since she'd taken advance surfing lessons before.

"Marco? Star?" She called as she sat on her board to keep afloat. Soon after two heads emerged from the sea.

"It's okay, I have her," Jackie reassured Mariposa as she held on to Star who was spitting seawater out of her mouth like a fountain.

"All I taste is salt now," Star mumbled with her tongue hanging her mouth showing the disdain of the taste.

"Next time Star, keep your mouth closed when jumping into the ocean," Mariposa joked. "Where's Marco?"

"Marco?" Jackie and Star looked around and noticed they were one head short. Jackie let Star go and dove back down. She saw Star bail and went to get her, but she never knew that Marco had fallen off too!

She frantically looked around, trying to spot him, but to no avail. The seafloor where they were wasn't flat sand, there were many small trenches and protruding rocks that could hide him from view or be dragged down into. The underwater currents were strong and divided into many different paths.

"I can't see him!" Jackie said as she resurfaced. "I think he was caught in an undertow! Get to the shore now and tell Hekapoo!"

Jackie dove back down before anyone could respond, more determined than before. Star took immediate action and used her magic to propel Mariposa back to the shore quickly while she created an oxygen bubble around her head and dove down to look for Marco.

Marco was scared, to say the least. The sea was carrying him around like a ragdoll, disorientating him as he lost his sense of direction. It wasn' strong or violent, but he could do anything to escape the sea's grasp. He kept his mouth shut tightly and use one hand to clench his nose to halt any water that may get in. He was scared but remained calm to the best of his abilities. He knew that if he struggled it would be a waste of energy and oxygen while he was being carried around. The best he could hope for is if Jackie finds him in time or if he can grab a rock and pull himself free or push of a surface.

No such luck was for him, he could feel his lungs starting to burn. He could slowly feel the last of his oxygen run out, his body spasmed and thrashed, begging him to open his mouth to breathe. But he couldn't do that voluntarily. Exhaling could relieve him of the pain, if only for a short time, but he'd lose what little buoyancy he had and sink further. Tragically, he could not fight the inevitable.

Marco opened his mouth, desperate breathing for air. Instead, what filled his mouth was saltwater. It filled every crevice inside his mouth and ran down his throat and into his lungs. This was it. His body lost strength as his lungs were deprived of oxygen, and he slowly felt his consciousness fade as darkness crept in. He knew that in a matter of seconds he'd pass out, and with both his body and brain deprived of oxygen his organs would soon shut down and… and he'd…

He didn't see his life flash before his eyes. He just thought about how scared he was before everything went dark.

Marco jerked up as it felt like his insides were all mushed around and being expelled from his body as he violently choked on water. He couldn't get his breathing under control, but he was breathing.

"That's it dear, get it all out. Turn face down, you don't want the water going back in." A voice said as he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He could feel his lungs be cleared of water and his body tried breathing normally as he took large breaths in between coughing up seawater. "You're lucky I was around and spotted you, otherwise there would have been an awful tragedy."

Marco was still disorientated and his eyes tried focusing on his saviour. At first, he thought maybe he did die because whoever it was looked extremely pale and dark shades fashioned them like a ghost.

"Dean Eclipsa?" Marco asked weakly as his vision cleared up.

"Hello dear, you gave me a real fright. I was afraid I may have been too late." She said with a reassuring smile, glad to see her student safe. Marco didn't think it'd be her that saved him.

She wore a dark purple one piece that didn't have any straps, more like a corset. If not for the sudden resuscitation, he would have thought that she looked good for a three-hundred-year-old woman, or he would have thought how strange it was for someone to wear opera gloves at the beach.

"Where am I?" He asked still trying to gather his bearings.

"The beach, a cove I found a long time ago to be more specific. It's like it's my own private beach." Eclipsa was right, they were surrounded by stone and sand, completely hidden from the rest of the beach.

"Over here, I found him!" A voice called out. The two looked over to see Tam Lucitor, she called out to others waving her arm.

Marco and Eclipsa saw some of his friends appear from around a stone wall naturally formed from the ground to their right. Those to appear were Mariposa and Meteora, each looked worried when they saw him, no doubt after what he went through.

His sister hugged him and the girls bombarded him with question after question, not giving him time to answer a single one.

"Easy girls, let him breath first," Eclipsa said.

"Mom? Why are you here?" Meteora asked, just now noticing her mother.

"Hello, sweetheart," she greeted sweetly. "I thought it was such a lovely day that I decided to go to the beach and came here. It's a good thing I was around otherwise I fear what would have happened to Marco."

Mariposa unlatched herself from Marco and hugged Eclipsa.

"Thank you thank you thank you." She kept repeating.

"No need to thank me, it's what anyone would do." She pulled Mariposa off her and wiped a tear from the girl's face. "Now, your other friends are probably worried about too. Let's ease everybody's worries."

The group made their way back to their beach site where Hekapoo was talking on her compact mirror. Marco was walking without aid having recovered his strength despite the girls insisting he takes it slow. When Hekapoo noticed the band she hung up her compact and stuck two fingers in her mouth to create a sharp whistle. The rest of their friends gathered around, Kelly and Janna came from the opposite direction of the beach checking the shoreline while Star, Jackie, and Higgs came from the direction of the sea. Star and Jackie had been checking underwater for him while Higgs flew overhead.

Everyone bombarded him with questions just like how Mariposa, Tam and Meteora did and he assured them that he was perfectly fine. It really made Marco happy to see how much his friends cared for him, and he would be in the same position if one of them were in danger.

"So, how'd you find him?" Hekapoo asked Eclipsa privately while the girls' attention was all on Marco.

"Oh, I just got lucky. Or perhaps I should say that Marco was lucky." Eclipsa answered.

"Come on, I know you better than something like this just being a stroke of luck." The teacher said dubiously. But she knew she wasn't going to get a straight answer from Ecilpsa if she didn't want to give one. "He is okay though?"

"Of course he is, just look at him."

"Eclipsa! This is the safety of a student!" Hekapoo was running short of patience. "Is he okay?"

Eclipsa's casual smile faded and looked Hekapoo in the eyes. "I assure you dear Hekapoo, he's fine. It was a stroke of luck that I found him when I did."

Hekapoo believed half of that. But she let it go and turned her attention back to the matter at hand and clapped to gain everyone's attention. "Okay girls, enough is enough. He nearly drowned, don't go suffocating him with your relentless questioning and worries."

They all gave him some breathing room. Marco did enjoy the attention, but he was getting uncomfortable with their unyielding concern. After everything, Jackie suggested that maybe it was time for them to pack up and go back to school.

"What? Come on." Marco argued. "There's still plenty of sun left for us to enjoy. Plus I've gotten kind of hungry. We can stay for a while longer, just, maybe enough with the water activities?"

Everyone agreed. Despite what happened they didn't want to end the day on a low note and agreed to stay longer for them to have a campfire. That's when Eclipsa said she'd take her leave.

"What? You're not really going, are you? Stay and eat with us." Star insisted.

"Oh, I don't think so. I wouldn't want to intrude on your kids' fun."

"Mom, you just saved Marco's life, eat with us." Her daughter said.

"She's right dean Eclipsa. And if you're worried about being too old for our crowd, just remember, we don't mind Hekapoo being around."

"What was that?" Hekapoo shot Janna a death glare, shutting the girl up instantly.

"Well, if you're all okay with it. But on the condition that you just call me Eclipsa, we're not in school."

They were happy to include their dean for the evening. They sat around a campfire roasting sausage and fish and having light-hearted conversations amongst each other. The sun had begun to set over the sea, turning the giant ball from a brilliant gold to a soothing orange that set the sky to a pascal picture of an orange and pink horizon.

"You know, considering everything as a whole, I'd say that this has been a successful beach day," Marco said satisfied.

Everyone agreed, they were glad they didn't cut their beach day short and did this. But Mariposa had a look that rather contrasted everyone, something that didn't go unnoticed to Star.

"What's the Mariposa?" She asked the girl. "You still hung up about what happened to Marco?"

"Not really, there wasn't anything I could do and he's safe now," she admitted. "It's just that, I had a really great time, and soon I'll have to go back home."

"Aw come on, it's not like you'll never see us again," Star said trying to cheer up both herself and Mariposa. She and the others were also going to miss the human girl when she goes back to her dimension. She and the girls did a lot of bonding over the winter break when they stayed with Marco's family. Having her over as a guest was a real treat.

"And if you want to talk with us sometime we could get you a compact mirror," Meteora suggested.

"Thanks, but it's not just that." She said happily with how everyone was so considerate of her. "I told Marco how jealous I was of him being able to go to another school in a different dimension. I know this was all a special occasion, but after today I guess I just started yearning to be able to get the same opportunity as him."

"Funny you should mention that," Eclipsa interjected. "I've been talking with the Magical Highschool Commission, and given how Marco's been integrating so well, we feel maybe we can push plans ahead of schedule and introduce more human students to join Mewni High."

"Here's the thing, me allowing Mariposa to come along wasn't out of some whim," Hekapoo admitted. "Originally, I thought you guys would show her around the campus and that would entice her to want to transfer."

"Yes, Marco has proven quite the capable student academically, but our school offers a wide range of athletic opportunities that can even lead to promising careers. Mariposa, dear, we've looked into your file and you're quite the outgoing individual and our school would be proud to have someone like you. I thought we could save this proposal until a consensus was formed amongst the Commission, but I suppose now's as good a time as any. Mrs. Diaz, what would you say to the opportunity of studying at our school?"

A was a long silence as everyone stared wide-eyed at Eclipsa until a high-pitched shriek of joy cut through the air. Mariposa couldn't contain her excitement as she jumped up and her arms tucked closely to her chest.

"I take that as a yes?" Eclipsa asked rubbing one of her ear canals.

"Yes yes yes! A million times yes!" She immediately noticed everyone's pained expressions at her sudden outburst and quickly composed herself as she sat back down. "I mean, I wouldn't dream of declining such an offer."

Everyone cheered and congratulated Mariposa.

"Hold on kids," Hekapoo cut in. "The Commission is still debating whether it is a good idea to accept another human student or students, and we have hundreds of possible applications to sift through, so this is just a proposal IF the chance arrives. *Ahem*Although… You didn't hear it from us, but Mariposa does have a good chance of being accepted."

That was enough to keep everyone optimistic. The prospect of Mariposa joining them in their everyday lives was something they all looked forward to.

"By the way, I didn't know you knew CPR mom," Meteora said.

"Well, it's never been a topic before. But yes, I do, it's a valuable skill after all."

"Ha, another one of us to leave her mark on Marco just like myself, welcome to the club." Janna joked.

"Same," Tam and Hekapoo said in unison.

"Wait, what?" Marco was confused. He certainly remembered kissing Tam, and he was pretty certain he and Hekapoo never did anything, but why did Janna mean by her mark?

"Girls, please, it was a method of saving Marco's life. There were no underlying implications." Eclipsa argued.

"Wasn't your last husband a student of yours?" Hekapoo reminded her.

"Okay, enough teasing," Marco felt just as trapped as Eclispsa was and didn't enjoy all the jabs. And then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Marco…" his sister said sternly. Marco turned his head to see his sister's mood turn dark. She was smiling, but her mouth didn't match her face for a second when he saw how her eyes had constricted into two black dots and what looked like a vein bulging from her forehead. And he could swear he saw the visage of fire emanating off his sister. "Just what do they mean by 'left their mark'?"

Being twins, Marco and Mariposa were close growing up who always told each other everything. So for Marco to keep information about his life away from his sister kind of triggered her. Marco's mind drew blanks for a response, but he was sure of one thing: he really doubted he could escape death's grasp twice in one day.

**Nobody: …**

**Not a single soul: …**

**NoHonor: Let me tell you my favourite Marco ships in the order of best to worst.**

**1\. Markapoo: Hekapoo is best girl and she's THICC!**

**2\. Kellco: For whatever reason, I legitimately thought his relationship with Kelly was by far the best of all his canon romantic relationships. Such a tragedy they had to end it so anticlimactically.**

**3\. Tomco: Romance or Bromance, I don't care which you classify it as and I ain't even into gay shipping.**

**4\. Jarco: Jackie was cool and Marco was one of those few characters that actually succeeded in getting the girl of his dreams.**

**5\. Starco: Honestly, I was never big on Starco. I liked their dynamic as BFFs more than the romantic tension between them. Of course I loved it when they confessed and kissed at the end, but all-in-all, ehhh. **_**(please don't beat me up Starco fans)**_

**6\. Janco (Manna): I only like this because Janna's a low-key stalker and constantly messes with Marco.**

**7\. Miggs (Higco?): She was only around for two episodes but we can all agree that Higgs would probably be a tsundere and I'm tsundere loving trash.**

**8\. Marclipsa: I have seen Marclipsa fanart and stories that have been done really well, but the only reason it's low is because of how I really love Eclipsa and Globgor. We all thought Eclipsa was going to be evil or the final antagonist, but it turns out she was a victim and a very sweet woman. We thought Globgor was a tyrannical monster (and historically, he was) but turned out to be a gentleman who cared for his family first and foremost. They were a sweet couple who deserved to be together.**

**9\. Marco X Meteora: No… just no. I'm trying to play it off in this story to add girls, but I just don't see this working. Do people even ship this? Seriously, PM me and tell me why so I can understand.**

**Others ships in no order:**

**Marco X Moon: No**

**Marco X Angie: *Shudders***

**Marco X Brunzetta: Eh, take or leave it. It depends on you.**

**Marco X Mime Girl: Ok but why tho?**

**Marco X Mina: Naw, even without that finale, she too crazy.**

**Ponyco: Get out!**

** Startomco: OH, HELL YEAH!**

** Seanco: … maybe.**


End file.
